Wizarding World War I
by undragonslayer
Summary: Jackson Skye has spent his whole life thinking he's just a normal nerd. All that changes one day when George Weasley crashes in front of him on his way home from school and give Jack a device to turn him into a wizard. Updated daily.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: The main character does not go to Hogwarts in his first year, but in his second year he will! I haven't started that yet... but I will when I'm done with this story. **

It was only five thirty, but it was already dark outside as Jack began the short journey home after swim practice that day. The sky was covered with a mosaic of brilliant stars, and dotted with fluffy clouds. A strong breeze picked up, helping Jack fend off the humidity of the June day.

As always, Jack walked slowly, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes to get a better look of the starry night. Although the wind seemed to be push ing a menacing front of storm clouds across the formerly peaceful night. They already covered half the sky.

That's weird, thought Jack. He hadn't noticed those clouds only minutes ago. The wind picked up suddenly, literally throwing Jack to the ground. He grunted as his hands rushed up to protect his face.

Trees were being whipped back and forth, and the once peaceful sky was lit with streaks of lightning, and completely covered with pitch black clouds, as if it was hiding something.

Jack broke into a run when he saw a thick branch break across the street, crushing a mailbox as it fell. It sounded to Jack like the wind was screaming, when something fell directly in front of him.

It was a man, dressed like somebody out of a history book's chapter about the Salem Witch Trials. At first he didn't move at all, making Jack think he was dead. But as lightning illuminated the scene for a split second Jack saw that his hand was reaching for something in his robe (which was as black as the clouds were).

"You!" the man said suddenly. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Mom tells me not to talk to strangers," Jack replied timidly.

"Your mom's smart, but please," the man seemed to be begging. "This is important. I'm dying and the world's about to be torn apart above our heads."

Jack glanced skyward before answering, deciding he could be right he told him his name was Jack.

"Just like Jack the Ripper, nice bloke," the man said. "Mine's George."

"Hello George," Jack reached to shake his hand.

"Hello Jack," George smiled and turned his head. Jack was shocked to see he only had one ear. "Just don't go off and get in any wars, else you'll end up like this," he gestured the side of his head, were his ear should have been.

"What war were you in?" Jack asked curiously.

"The Second Wizarding War," he replied quite seriously. "And now I'm in the Third Wizarding War. I was just hit by _sectum sempra_ and fell off my broom."

"Oh come off it!" grinned Jack. "I really wanna know, 'less that's private."

George didn't seem to hear him, he was still fumbling around for something in his robes. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't heard of me. I'm a bit of a war hero. I fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. No? Still not ringing any bells? I also own Wheezly's Wizard's Wheezes, the joke shop at Diagon Alley. Right, you're American. You wouldn't have heard of Diagon Alley. Sorry, mate."

"Are you hurt? You fell out of the sky!" Jack exclaimed suddenly.

"I can tell you're a bright bloke, you'll be good at arithmancy someday." Jack stared at him blankly. "You really have no idea what I'm talkin' about? Have you by any chance had a mite too much to drink? No, you can't be more than… what?"

"You're talking about nonsense!" Jack said.

"Blimey, you're a muggle!" George said in astonishment. He jumped to his feet with surprising new vigor. He was tall, skinny, ginger, and had a few hundred freckles. With the first step he took he collapsed, clutching his side. When he took his hand away it was covered in blood.

"What's a muggle?" Jack asked.

"Yep, a muggle if I ever did see one. Sorry I haven't got time to explain much. But this is actually very good news!" George's mouth stretched so wide Jack thought it might jump off his face and start shouting about not being a rubber band. "Okay, basics! Adults might tell you magic don't exist but it does, and—"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Sorry no time for interruptions, I'll write it all down for you so you can remember it later," George removed his hand from his robe and brought out a few sheets of yellowish paper and an old-fashioned feather quill. "Starting again!" As he spoke the quill floated and scribbled on the paper. "Magic exists. Don't let anybody tell you differently. I'm a wizard, and I'll prove it to you in a bit. Awhile ago there was a bad wizard who tried to take over Europe. The good guys won, but American wizards detected the increase in attack magic and accused us of building an army. The situation got worse and worse until a war began.

"I was drafted, just as I was nearing on a breakthrough. I'm an inventor you see? So I took my nearly finished gadget with me, in hopes I could finish it during any breaks. Well I haven't been able to. It's supposed to make muggles—that's non-magical fold like you—into wizards and witches. The piece of junk can transform one person at a time, but then it breaks. Right now its fixed enough to do one.

"I want you to use it—when there is nobody else around—and figure out how to make it work without breaking. You'll know you got it right when everybody in the world starts actin' magical." George must have finally found what he was looking for in his robes because he pulled his hand out, in it was a small glass ball engraved with lightning bolts. He held it out to Jack

"How do I use it?" asked Jack as he took it from the wizard's hand.

"Smash it with your foot—while you're wearing a shoe," he said hastily, with his teeth clenched like there was something he was trying to keep inside his mouth. "Make sure you're alone while you do it! It won't hurt but if somebody interferes the change could go wrong."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Jack said with more bravery than he felt.

"Yes about that," With a shaking hand, George reached inside his robe once more and pulled out a long wooden stick. "I gotta give up my position so they find my body." George stood up once more, raised the stick to the sky, and fireworks burst out the end. It was spectacular and frightening. "Believe me?"

"Yeah," Jack said breathlessly.

"Good, now run! They'll be here any second and if they know you've seen me they'll wipe your memory. And take that paper! GO!" he commanded.

Jack obeyed, he bent down to grab the paper and slipped it in his pocket along with the glass ball, then bolted. Three blocks down the road he turned around to get a last look at George. As he looked, two figures descended from the sky, grabbed the limp body and shot off into the sky before Jack could get a proper look at them.

He stood there a few moments, and then ran straight home.

**Author's note: Please tell me what you think in a review! Suggestions would also be wonderful. Even constructive criticism should be said. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Jack slammed the door shut behind him, and forced a mischievous smile as he turned around to face his mom.

"Where have you been?" She said with her arms crossed.

"I was playing in the rain," he answered, trying not to shiver as he realized he was freezing cold.

"You were playing in the rain?" She repeated sternly. "Here I am, about to call the police because you're an _hour _late, and you were out playing during the worst storm of the decade!"

Jack was suddenly aware of tornado sirens wailing in the distance. "Yes…" he said, pretending to feel guilty.

"Well in that case go to your room," she demanded. "I'll tell you when dinner's ready."

Jack walked slowly to his upstairs bedroom, pretending to sulk. Once there he took out the slightly crumpled piece of paper and read over it several times, it said exactly the same thing that George had.

After he had practically memorized the thing, he took out the glass ball and examined it. What he had previously thought to be lightning bolts was actually jagged letters spelling _Magic Maker_.

It wasn't long until he heard his dad coming in through the squeaky door. That meant dinner was served. He hid the paper and stone under his mattress well before his mom came up to announce dinner. When she came in he pretended to be bored into staring at the ceiling (which was actually fascinating, it had taken forever, but Jack had once counted exactly how many breaks there were in the otherwise green paint).

Dinner _was _boring, the only thing interesting thing said was that Jack's parents would be going out for dinner together tomorrow, giving Jack the perfect opportunity to see if the magic ball worked.

Jack was sent to his room for the rest of the night, and he began rereading all of his fantasy books, wondering just how he might use the magical powers he would soon have. At some time the next morning he fell asleep out of exhaustion and the book he was holding fell on his face.

**Author's note: Reviews make me happy and make updates come more than once a day :)**


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Jack woke at noon, and walked downstairs to find his dad gone for work, and his mom baking cookies.

"Why are you up so early?" his mom made an attempt at a joke.

"Just such beautiful day outside," Jack said in return, gesturing out the window at the pouring rain.

"Ah well I'm baking cookies for your eleventh birthday party tomorrow," she said, staring intently at the cookie dough she was kneading with her hands.

In all the excitement of yesterday, Jack had completely forgotten that he was turning eleven tomorrow, on the Summer Solstice. The thought of a family "party" did not appeal to him much, but he was getting presents, so no need to complain. Although, even remembering his birthday was tomorrow could not overshadow the real reason he was excited (although he had no problem letting his mom think it was for the party). Unless George had been lying, which seemed more and more likely the more Jack thought about it, he was going to become a wizard tonight.

As the day wore on and Jack read the paper over and over again, his hopes became less and less. Throughout his whole life he had never seen any evidence for the existence of magic that he couldn't explain any other way, except for a few magicians tricks that he had never figured out.

Finally his parents called him down to announce they were leaving, they said they would be back late so he shouldn't wait up for them. He waved them down the driveway all too eagerly, he could no longer contain his excitement.

Jack ran to the kitchen, grabbed a cookie, put on his shoes, and ran upstairs to fetch the glass ball. His room was carpeted so he went back downstairs to the kitchen, which had a tiled floor.

He placed the ball in a small dent in the floor so it wouldn't roll away. Just as he raised his foot to smash it, the rain stopped, like the entire world was in anticipation. Jack's foot came down with all the force the soon to be eleven-year-old could muster.

The ball shattered in silence, its fragments scattering across the floor. In its place was a wispy golden light, it crawled up Jack's legs slowly, as the boy watched in wonder. It wasn't long until the light had engulfed the entire bottom half of his body, and it continued going. When it reached his neck, it expanded out in front of him, and seemed to be staring into the very heart of his soul.

Without warning, the light abandoned his body and swept into Jack's body through the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Jack fell down in surprise, all his senses seemed to be reacting in a way that could only be described as pure. He began to float off the floor and just hung there for a few moments while the sensation continued.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, he dropped to the floor, the only feeling he had was the cold tile against his back. He heard a shuffling noise and sat up. The glass shards were attempting to come back together, and the formed a perfect sphere once more, with _magic maker _clearly discernable. George must have been wrong, thought Jack, it fixed itself.

Just as he finished the thought the ball crumpled in a tiny heap of glass. Figuring it would be a good opportunity to test his new abilities, he tried to make the shards levitate so he could save them and try to fix it like George had said. But as much as he concentrated, it didn't stir at all. It was half an hour before he gave up and resorted to sweeping the shards into a plastic bag.

He went to bed that night worrying that it may not have worked, that the lights had all just been a failed attempt at making a muggle like him into a wizard.

**Author's note: If you review, Voldemort won't kill your family.**


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Jack woke up to a breakfast of doughnuts, and his parents presented their present to him. It was an Android phone.

"We know you're a bit young for a phone," His dad started. "But you're going off to boarding school this year, and we want to keep in touch. And I expect plenty of pictures." His mom nodded her agreement.

"Thank you," Said Jack, and he meant it. He didn't know how much he would use it for calling, but it had internet access and there were a lot of questions about wizards that he hoped to find through googling.

A few hours later his family started to arrive. Jack greeted them at the door politely, and tried to look interested in the small talk ("Did you hear that Vicky's lost ten pounds on that new diet?" "The weather sure is good today after that storm," "I had waffles for breakfast this morning."), which he sure he failed at. All this on top of the relentless worry that the transformation had failed, or that even if he was a wizard he would never be able use his powers for lack of knowing how.

Finally it came time for the presents, which was good because (1) Jack got presents and (2) everybody stopped talking. He got mostly money (because that was all he had asked for), but he also got a Rubiks Cube and a puzzle where you had to get two pieces of twisted metal apart.

Soon it was time for cake and ice cream. Everybody gathered around the table with the lights turned off, and eleven candles lit on top of a delicious ice cream cake. The song started and Jack did his best to smile and look excited, even though he knew birthday wishes didn't do anything. He figured he'd try it anyways.

Just as he was about to blow out the candles and wish that the glass ball had worked, a letter flew in through the open window. It skimmed the candles, putting them out immediately, and hit Jack on the forehead. He fell down out of shock and instinctively grabbed the letter before it hit the floor.

_Mr. Jackson Skye_

_The Dining Room_

_7777 Naches Street_

_St. Louis Park, MN, America_

Was what the address read in sparkling orange ink. There was no return address. Thinking it must be a birthday card from somebody hiding outside the window he went over and stuck his head out. But there were no signs that anybody had been there recently. The grass was overgrown and there were no footprints. The only unusual thing about the scene was an owl flying high above.

"Are you alright?" Jack's mom asked, putting her hand to his forehead. Quickly looking in a mirror Jack saw that there was a bright red line right above his eyes.

"Yeah," Jack said casually, although it did sting a bit.

"Well what does the letter say?" one of his more impatient relatives said (he was also Jack's favorite).

He ripped open the envelope without taking care to avoid ripping the paper inside. Luckily it was undamaged.

_Dear Mr. Jackson Skye and parents,_

_We are pleased to say that you have been accepted into the following schools as a late admission:_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, located in Scotland (mainly attended by British Students)_

_Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning, located in Bulgaria_

_Beauxbatans Academy of Magic, located in France_

_Pigfarts, located on Mars_

_Zeme's Academy for Shamans and Druids, located in Minnesota, America_

If you do not know what we're talking about we will send a representative from each school to fill you in. If you know perfectly well what we're talking about, we await your owl of which school you wish to attend.

p.s. Please remember that Homeschooling and Privet Schooling are both options to take into consideration.

Jack didn't know what to think, but he definitely couldn't read this aloud. "My birthday wish came true," was all he would say to anybody who asked what it said. After the party was over he showed the letter to his parents

"Hogwarts?" was the only thing his mom said.

"Pigfarts?" was what his dad said. "It says here that school is located on Mars. Man hasn't even landed on Mars yet."

"Well we don't know what they're talking about yet. Maybe Pigfarts is the name of a land rover that landed there," Jack said, although he didn't really care. He didn't want to go to a school called Pigfarts.

"Son, I don't follow space travel that closely, but I'm pretty sure nobody named a rover that went to another planet Pigfarts."

"Well it doesn't matter, because they're sending a representative tomorrow, and we'll see how many of these are real," Jack said.

"Honey," his mom said. "I think you're taking this too seriously, this is obviously a prank from somebody at school. And not a very good one at that."

"Whatever," Jack said, and began to solve his Rubik's Cube. When his parents walked away, however, he took out his new phone and started googling each school. All of them came up blank except for Pigfarts.

It turned out that Pigfarts was a fictional magic school in a comedy musical. Although it never showed up, it was a legend to some wizards who hated their current magic school and dreamed of going to Pigfarts someday. So that one must have been a joke in a serious letter.

Then a horrible thought hit him, what if all this was just an elaborate prank like his mom thought. When he got to school in a few months he would be the joke of the entire sixth grade. He resolved to never speak of this again, and the tiny fire of hope that he was a wizard that had grown so much that day was diminished to a glowing cinder.

That changed the next day when Jack was busy solving his Rubik's Cube up in a tree when three strange looking men and a woman approached the door beneath him. Jack dropped to the ground as quickly as he could without falling. The four looked at him and smiled.

"Yeh must be Jackson!" Said a man who was so large that Jack was sure it must be an illusion. "'ello, my name's Hagrid." He held out a hand the size of a trash can lid. "I represent 'Ogwarts School o' Witchcraft an' Wizardry."

"Very good Hagrid," the woman (who was even larger than Hagrid) said affectionately. "I'm Madam Maxime and I represent Beauxbatans."

"I'm Grell," said another man, who was tall but not even nearing the other two's height. "I come from Zemes Academy for Shamans and Druids." His hand felt like stone, warmed by the sun.

"And I'm Yerry," the final man introduced himself, he was short but muscular. "I come from Durmstrang."

"I'm Jack," Said Jack eagerly. "What about the guy from Pigfarts?" he asked, feeling a little stupid as all of them doubled over in laughter.

"Pigfarts is a joke, Jack," Grell said in his deep gravelly voice.

"Oh."

"Well nuff jokin' let's get inside an' explain," Said Hagrid, moving toward the door without wait for a response. The door was locked but Jack let them in.

"Mom!" Jack called. "The letter wasn't a prank! Some people are here."

His mom walked around the corner, ready to play pretend with her son when she saw the four strangers. "Oh, well… hello," she flustered.

"'Ello ma'am, I'm Hagrid an' I represent 'Ogwarts school o' Witchcraft an' Wizardy," Hagrid said again. After everyone had introduced themselves again they began talking about each school's history.

Hogwarts had been founded by the four greatest wizards and witches of its time, hundreds of years ago. The other two European schools much the same, although with varying numbers of wizards and witches. And Hogwarts had apparently been the site of the bloodiest battle in known wizarding history.

Zeme's however had been founded by an ancient Native American tribe who had discovered they had the ability to do magic. They had named female magic users shamans and males druids. When European settlers discovered the academy they seized control of it with ease, because they had a larger knowledge of magic, and ran it as they saw fit. The name was kept in remembrance of the Tribe that had lost it. Now Zeme's accepted anybody and everybody with magical abilities who was a resident of the American Midwest. There were also American magic schools for the East, West, and South, as well as a number of privet schools. The European schools accepted anybody from all over the world.

Each school was described in how you would spend your day, where you would sleep, and what kind of food there was. They all had nearly identical lists of supplies. Nearly two hours passed and Jack could still not decide between Zeme's and Hogwarts.

"We'll give you a few days to decide, send us an owl with your choice," Hagrid said, taking a ruffled looking owl out of his coat and handing it to Jack. "Jus' send it to the school you choose, and give it a letter saying who you are and that you'd like to attend."

"Who says he's attending any of your schools?" his mom said with worry. "I'm sorry but you don't seem to be the safest people to let my little boy live with for nine months. What if something happens to him?"

"I assure you he'll be quite safe at Zeme's or Hogwarts. "Students rarely do anything dangerous, and when they do there is a nurse with enough qualifications to work at St. Mungo's hospital standing a few feet away."

"St. Mungo's?" Jack asked inquisitively.

"It's the most prestigious hospital in the world. Our nurses can heal any afflictions muggles get with ease. And almost all magical afflictions," he said reassuringly.

"That's all very fine and well, but what about learning math and science and things?" his mom said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how the muggle world works with their education," Grell replied. "But believe me when I say that it is very rare when a muggle-born wizard regrets their decision to go to a magic school, Rare enough that I've never heard of it happening."

"Mom, I can go to summer school," jack pleaded desperately. "I like learning science and you need to know math to be good at science so I'd be glad to."

"There yeh go, miss," Hagrid said. "I tell yeh, yer' son'll be a good wizard if I ever did see one. And good at science. There's sometin I never thought would happen."

"Please, mom?" Jack begged. "I was going to a boarding school anyways. I'd just be learning different stuff."

"I'll have to think about it. And talk it over with your father."

"Well I have ter be off. I got a few other students to give the news to," Hagrid said.

"Me too," said Grell. They got up to leave. "It was a pleasure meeting you both. I hope you choose Zeme's."

As Hagrid walked out the door he turned around and said. "Yeh know? I like you. Don't think I'm bribin' yeh to come to 'Ogwarts, but why don't yeh keep that owl. He's a nice hawk owl. His name's Jeremy, but he like's ter be called Jerry."

Jack looked to his mom that he could keep it. She nodded yes. "Thank you so much!" Jack said, and Jerry flew onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry about feedin' 'im. Just let 'im out at night ter hunt," Hagrid said, and then turned to Jerry. "Now you behave yerself for yehr new owner. Always fly back to him, yeh hear? Not me," then turning back to Jack. "I trained 'im myself, and he's magic so he'll always know where yeh are. And he'll be able to find anybody you send 'im to. 'Less o'course they put some enchantment on themselves. Bye then," He surprised Jack one more time with a hug, when Jack tried to return the action, his arms barely fit half-way around the giant.

"Good-bye Hagrid. Will I see you anywhere if I don't choose Hogwarts?" Jack asked hopefully.

"Yeh might. Hang around Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and yeh might. G' bye Mrs. Skye," he gave Jack's mom a hug too. Then he walked out the door and to a comparatively tiny motorcycle. Half-way down the street the vehicle lifted into the sky, whisking Hagrid away. There was no sign of Grell, he had simply vanished.

Three days later his mom agreed to let him go. It had helped that his dad was completely for the idea, although he didn't believe it was a magic school. They hadn't paid the tuition to the boarding school yet, so they simply repurposed that money to buying the weird school supplies, although Jack thought they would have trouble finding them. He needed strange spell books, a wand, a cauldron, protective dragon-skin gloves, robes, potion supplies, and old fashioned parchment and quills.

After a lot of deliberation, he decided that he liked how Zeme's grounds had been described more than Hogwarts. He wrote a quick note on paper with a pen and slid it into an envelope.

"Come here Jerry," Jack called from downstairs. The owl came and landed on his shoulder. "Take this letter to Grell," he said uncertainly. Jerry took the letter gently in his talons and flew off through an open window.

A day later Jerry came back with a letter written on parchment.

I'm glad that you chose us over Hogwarts. We tried not to show it but the schools have a bit of a rivalry. You'll need help finding school supplies I expect, send me an owl with a date that works for you, and I'll show you to Diagon Alley.

Jack rushed to ask his parents when it would work. And soon Jerry was off again. The next day when Jerry came back, he had a letter waiting to be sent to Hagrid, informing him of his decision.

Three days later, the day Grell was coming to help him find supplies, when he hadn't returned Jack began to worry about him. He asked Grell if he should be.

"Nah," he said without hesitation. "Hagrid trained him so he'll be fine. You gotta give him more time for oversea trips. I'm in the same state as you, so it's quick. But now he has to go halfway across the earth.

"Now! Diagon Alley. I had to get a port key licensed because of the latest restrictions on the Floo Network. That's a thing that connects fireplaces, makes traveling easy. But port keys are even better. You just touch them and WHAM! You're in a different place. Of course you have to get each one licensed, which is a pain, and the spell's quite difficult, it'll get us there though."

"Why is the Floo Network being restricted?" asked Jack's dad, who was still skeptical of magic.

"Oh only getting oversea, what with the war and all," he said.

"There's no wars going on right now," Jack's mom said. But Jack remembered George saying something about a war between America and Europe.

"Not in the muggle world, but there's a bit of a situation between America and Europe," Grell explained. "It's mostly a cold war, been going on ten years and only four deaths and six battles. But it's got a lot of folks worried. There's even been a draft. Don't worry you have to be seventeen, out of school, and live in an official wizard residence so your son's safe from it. I was drafted, got myself shot out the air with a nasty hex. I spent a few days in St. Mungo's and went back to teaching transfiguration at Zeme's. Now on to school supplies."

"Hold on," Jack's dad interrupted. "You expect me to send my son off to a war zone?"

"Both sides signed a treaty at the beginning that they would leave all schools alone," Grell dismissed his father's worries. "Now as I was saying. This is the port key." He held up a tattered glove. "Put at least one finger on it and we'll be off."

"Wait just a moment," Jack's dad interrupted again. "Did you say we were going oversea?"

"Yeah, to Britain, why?"

"Isn't there something closer?"

"Yeah but they have a better wand-maker and bank." Grell said. "Let's go!"

"Don't we need passports or something?"

"Only by muggle law and it's not like you're going to be traipsing around the streets," Grell said. "Now put your hand here." He grabbed Jack's dad's hand and placed it on the glove. The room melted away to be replaced with gray, and the glove was spinning them so that their bodies would have been torn away if their hands didn't seem to be glued on.

Quite suddenly they were in the middle of a street crowded with people dressed in robes. Once he recovered from the trip Jack looked around. There were wonderful things up and down the street. A crowd of kids were gathered around a broom shop, staring at what must have been a flying broom shop, inside the window of a book shop he saw piles of books that must have been enchanted not to fall, an apothecary touting a sign that said "UNICORN HORN, NOW ONLY 5 GALLEONS," countless people on the street had owls on their shoulders and wands clutched in their hands.

Jack remembered George saying that he ran a shop here called Wheezleys Wizards Wheezes, he looked around for it and saw that the shop was dark. It looked like when it was open it would be a joke shop.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," said Grell. "The one stop place for all your needs when getting supplies for school. First stop, wand shop. A wand is, of course, the most important tool for a wizard. You'll use it to stir potions, but more importantly, cast spells. It is possible to cast spells without one, but it's very hard and there are few who could cast any spell at all without a wand."

They walked in a rather bland looking shop that had nothing but a counter and rows of boxes behind it. Grell walked up to the counter and rang the bell. A middle-aged man appeared from behind the shelves of boxes. Which one of you needs a wand?" he asked.

"Hold on," said Grell. "Where's Ollivander?"

"He passed away two weeks ago," he said solemnly.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Grell was taken aback.

"It's okay, you know it's a miracle he was able to hold on this long, after being tortured by you-know-who ten years ago his health had been failing more and more."

"Who's you-know-who?" Asked Jack.

"Ah, a muggle-born. So am I. You know we've been seeing a lot more of you since his downfall. A while ago there was a dark wizard who killed so many people. Especially muggle-borns. There were two entire wars just to stop him, and now this bloody war came out of it. Everyone's so scared of him that we're too scared to say his name."

"It was Voldemort," Grell said immediately.

The man behind the counter gasped. "Don't say it. It freaks me out."

"Ollivander wasn't afraid to say his name," Grell shot back. "Enough with this sad talk. I don't mean to pry, but who are you?"

"I was his apprentice. My name's Drue. Ollivander taught me everything he knew about wandlore. A few months ago he decided I was ready to start making and distributing wands. So as a test I made myself one. Works fine" He held out a piece of wood. "Nine and a half inches, oak, and dragon heartstring center. Now which one of you needs a wand?"

Jack stepped up to the counter as Drue stepped in front of it. He snapped a finger and a measuring tape flew up and started taking measurements of Jack. Each length of his finger, his nose, how thick his arms were. "What hand's your wand hand?"

Jack assumed he would use whichever hand he was best with, which was a problem because he was ambidextrous. He told Drue so.

"Good choice," he said. "It'll give you flexibility if you ever duel someone." When the measuring tape was done and he had recorded everything it had said he rushed off into the back. He returned with a box. "Twelve inches, redwood, unicorn hair core, kind of swishy. Good for long range spells," he said as he took a wand out of the box and handed it to Jack.

"So that's it?" he asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, the wand has to choose you. Give it a wave!"

Jack waved it and an arrow shot out of the end. Drue dodged it just in time. "Definitely wrong," he declared. "Just leave it in the box!" he shouted back as he rushed off to find another one. This time the counter caught on fire, which Drue and Grell quickly put out.

"Alright this one is just five and a half inches, redwood again, pegasus hair core, sturdy with a little swish. Good for charms and transfiguration."

Jack took the wand, waved it, and a firework exploded out the end, but left everything in the room un-scorched. "Perfect!" exclaimed Drue. "That wand suits you like it was made for you. Of course everybody's wand is like that to them, but whatever."

"But what's the cost?" Asked Jack's dad, speaking for the first time since arriving in the Alley.

"Seven Galleons, three sickles and four knuts, good sir. That's about fifty dollars of muggle money."

"We forgot to go to Gringotts!" Grell remembered. "You don't have wizard money yet!"

"What do we do then?" asked Jack.

"If I paid for it would you pay me back once you've got wizard money?" Grell asked Jack's dad.

"Of course," he said.

Grell reached inside his robes and took out a small pouch. He took out seven gold coins, three silver ones, and four little bronze ones and handed it to Drue. "Thank you, sir," he said and put the coins inside his robes. "Just so you know I remember all the wands I sell, just as any good wandmaker does. Of course I've only sold about fifty since I took over the shop. So if you ever break it I'll know what wand to get you right away."

"I can't believe this is all actually _real_." Said Jack's dad. "You know when I heard you called the school magic I thought you meant it seemed like magic how well the kids learned and that these two had misunderstood you. But it's actually magic," he laughed after he said magic. "Just, why do you hide from the rest of the world?"

"The last time we decided to come out of hiding was right before the Salem Witch Trials," Grell said gravely. "And you'd all be asking for favors, we'd never get left alone.

"And would a wand work if I tried to use it?" he asked.

"No, for one thing each wand is specific to each witch and wizard. For instance if Jack had left with that first wand all his spells would go wrong or not work. If you tried using one I think it would literally blow up in your face," Grell answered

"But how does it all work?" he said. "I'm a scientist, there must be some principle as to how it works."

"There are a few research teams trying to figure it out. Right now the prevailing theory is that the wand's core is able to manipulate the four forces by changing cosmic constants," he stopped suddenly and pointed to an impressive building at the end of the road. "There is the greatest wizarding bank in the world. It has two recorded break-ins, one of which nothing was taken, and the other the criminals had a noble purpose. Also one of the wizards who did it was Harry Potter, and you just can't keep Harry Potter out of anywhere. He won the war against Voldemort in case you're wondering, he's regarded by some as the second greatest wizard who ever lived."

"Who's the first?" Jack asked.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, got himself killed in order to save the world from Voldemort. Only gullible fools will deny that he was the best." At that moment they came to large bronze doors of Gringotts. They passed through them only to be met with a set of silver doors.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed__  
><em>_Of what awaits the sin of greed__  
><em>_For those who take, but do not earn,__  
><em>_Must pay most dearly in their turn.__  
><em>_So if you seek beneath our floors__  
><em>_A treasure that was never yours,__  
><em>_Thief, you have been warned, beware__  
><em>_Of finding more than treasure there._

Was engraved on a golden plaque on one of them. A pair of short ugly creatures with wrinkled skin passed long golden rods over them, and then let them pass. "Forgot to mention Gringotts is run by goblins," Grell whispered to Jack and his parents.

The bank had marble floors and must have been two hundred feet tall with long wooden counters stretching all the way across the room. The counters had hundreds of goblins behind them, all were busy with something, some were weighing diamonds, others counting large stacks of golden coins.

Grell walked right up to the nearest goblin who was counting galleons. "My friends here would like to exchange American money for wizarding money."

The goblin looked up, obviously annoyed at being interrupted. "Let's see how much money you've got, then."

Jack's dad handed over two hundred dollars in cash to the goblin. "That's two hundred dollars."

"Yes, I can count," the goblin responded dryly. He counted out a number of golden, silver, and bronze coins. "This is equal to two hundred American dollars in the international wizarding currency," he said as he handed them over. "I assume you need to know how the system works and what's what," he didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "The gold coins are called galleons, the silver ones sickles, and the bronze ones are knuts. Galleons are worth the most at seven dollars and fifty cents. There are seventeen sickles to a galleon, and nine knuts to a sickle. Is there anything else you need help with?"

"No," said Jack.

"Good, have a nice day, thank you for visiting Gringotts," the goblin said without emotion.

As they passed through the silver doors the goblins passed the golden rods over them once more, pausing for a second at the bag of money.

"What are those things supposed to do?" Jack's dad asked.

"They detect dark magic and concealed or stolen objects using _furtumo detegere_," Jack said automatically.

"How do ya know that?" Grell asked.

"I – I dunno, must of overheard somebody talking about it," Jack explained to himself as much as them.

"Yeah…. You must have…" Grell trailed off. "Let's get you a cauldron first, then you can carry the rest of your stuff in it."

So they went into the potions shop and bought a cauldron and a basic potion kit. Next they headed towards Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions.

"Hogwarts?" asked a woman who must have been Madam Malkin.

"Zeme's," replied Grell.

"Well, we don't see many Americans around here these days," she said, turning towards them. "Must have been a pain to get a portkey arranged."  
>"You don't know the half of it."<p>

"Well let's get this one fitted, then, no point standin' around, blubberin' about the Ministry's regulations," she said with a smile. "What's your name, then?"

"Jack," he answered, shaking her hand.

Soon she had had a tape measure whizzing about him, much the same as Ollivander's. It wasn't long before she announced that he was done. "That'll be a galleon a piece, how many do you need?"

Jack's parents looked to Grell.

"The house-elves wash the clothes of anyone who wants it on the weekends, but you only have to wear robes during classes. I'd recommend five."

Jack's mom nodded to Madam Malkin in agreement.

"Five galleons then," she said, holding her hand out after draping five sets of identical black robes over the counter.

After Grell had paid for some robes of his own, they were off to buy the rest of the supplies. In a shop that seemed to sell random things, a small bag caught his eye.

_Weight-cancelling bag_

_Can reduce weight by up to 90%_

_Is 3X3X3 meters on the inside_

_1 galleon and 6 sickles_

"Hey mom," Jack called. "Would you get me this? It'd be great for getting my stuff to Zeme's. Please?"

His mom thought for a few seconds before agreeing, and added that he had to use it whenever he traveled anywhere. Jack didn't argue, he would gladly have all his stuff fit in a small bag while nearly weightless. They also bought a lot of parchment, ink bottles, and quills that refilled themselves.

All too soon, the foray into the magical world was over. But as they headed towards a portkey that would take the quartet back to America, a store called Quality Quidditch Supplies had a huge line outside of it that simply could not go unnoticed.

"That'll be everyone who can afford it buying a Nimbus 3000 broomstick," Grell answered the unvoiced question. "Supposed to be a match for the Firebolt, that's the current record-holder for speed and agility, but at a fraction of the cost. I'm, actually thinking about getting one myself."

"What do wizards use brooms for?" Jack's ever-questioning dad asked.

"Transport and sports, mostly," Grell answered. "Quidditch–" he began, pointing to the sign over the shop, "—is the most popular in the world. The other main one's Quadpot. And then there's racing and air-dueling. Don't worry, first-years aren't allowed to participate in dueling, and it's quite safe," he added, noticing Jack's mom's worried face.

"I should hope so," Jack's mom said.

Fifteen minutes later, Jack was up in his room, examining everything he had bought over and over again. He could hardly contain his excitement, this was the first time since third grade when Jack had been looking forward to the beginning of the school year. September had never been so far away.

The only contact he had with the wizarding world over the next two months was a letter from the school saying that they picked first-years up in front of their houses with a bus.

**Author's note: When you review Ollivander comes back from the dead. Maybe.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

September first arrived carrying a Jack who had not slept a wink the night before choosing to read A Beginner's Guide to Basic Charming instead. When dawn came he felt like he had mastered all the basic wand movements and had even managed to memorize a few of the charms. Grell had warned him that using magic outside of school was illegal and could get him expelled, so it was much harder to memorize them without seeing their fascinating effects.

The letter had not specified when the bus was coming so Jack changed into his robes the moment the sun appeared on the horizon. His bag had been packed the day before, although his wand was put inside a pocket clearly meant for a wand inside his robes. Hours passed as Jack eagerly scanned the road in both directions.

When his parents finally woke up they had breakfast in the living room, Jack constantly looking through the window. The family sat in silence for most of the time, with Jack's mom occasionally piping up to say how worried she would be about Jack, while his dad examined the bag which was bigger on the inside. As a scientist, it must have been even more fascinating.

Finally, a Greyhound bus came smoothly down the street. Jack popped up and announced its arrival loudly as he ran to the door.

"Wait!" his mom called, as if Jack had expected to get away without saying good-bye.

"Good-bye," said Jack as he hugged both of them. "I promise I'll be well-behaved and study and become a great wizard!"

"You better," his mom said, almost threateningly. "And I want you to call home every day for the first week, and then at least once a week."

"Sure thing," he agreed, although he had no intention of keeping his promise. "I love you!"

"Good luck, son," said his dad, with a huge smile upon his face.

Jack hugged them one more time and then ran off to get on the bus. Jerry glided down and landed on his shoulder. "I don't think owls are allowed on the bus," he apologized to the owl. "Meet me at the school, will you?"

The owl ruffled his feathers, as if offended, and then took flight. Jack trusted Hagrid's training to allow Jerry to find him again.

The driver of the bus greeted Jack with a handshake and a hello. "There are luggage racks to put any bags," he said, gesturing above their heads to compartments on the ceiling. "Although, you seem to be unpacked. Are you sure you're not forgetting anything?"

"Positive," Jack replied, although suddenly filled with doubts that he had forgotten his cauldron.

"If you're sure!" the driver said, sitting down in his seat. "Grab a seat then, anywhere you like. We'll be off shortly."

Suddenly realizing that he didn't know anybody on the bus, he walked up the narrow aisle, avoiding eye-contact.

"You can sit here," a boy who was sitting by himself said, trying to disguise how badly he wanted somebody to sit with.

Jack, however, was glad to accept the invitation. He gently placed his bag in the compartment above his head and sat down. "Thank you."

"No problem," the boy said, absolutely gleeful now that there was a possibility of making a friend. "My name's Gavin, what's yours?"

"Jack."

"Well, Jack, is this your first year too?'

"Yeah, and it came as a bit of a shock to find out I was a wizard," Jack replied, hoping that this wasn't a bad thing. "Both of my parents are muggles," he smirked at how natural wizard vocabulary already sounded to him.

"Don't worry," Gavin assured him. "Loads of the best wizards and witches in the world were muggle-born. As for me, I'm a half-blood. My mom's a witch and my dad's a muggle. He wanted me to get a 'proper' education, I think he was hoping I was a squib, so he's been forcing me to go to muggle school. I tell you, I hated it so much."

"Er, what's a squib?"

"Oh right, sorry I forgot you wouldn't know. A squib's a non-magical person born from magical parents or parent. They're not very common, you know. Even if you only have one magical parent you almost always turn out to be magical yourself."

"How common are muggle-borns?" asked Jack, worried that he would be an outcast. "There'll be at least a few more than you. It's not _that _uncommon."

It was then that Jack noticed the bus was flying, houses looked barely larger than a Lego. "Oh my god, we're flying!"

"Oh yeah," Gavin said indifferently.

"Is this normal in the wizarding world?" Jack asked, amazed that his new friend didn't care.

"I don't know, I've lived in a muggle-town my whole life," Gavin said. "I've just been on this bus for about an hour now."

"How long do ya think it'll take to get there?" asked Jack.

"I dunno, but I hope it doesn't take too long, I'm starving." He said, putting a hand to his stomach as he spoke.

"Well we could try and practice magic," Jack said.

"We're not allowed, outside of school, until we're seventeen," Gavin replied, obviously rapidly becoming bored.

"I'm sure this counts," Jack said, trying to sound confident.

It seemed as if Gavin needed little convincing. "Well then let me get my spell book," he made to get up and retrieve it from his bag, but Jack was a step ahead of him.

"_Accio spell book_," he said. He heard his bag open, and a few seconds later a book appeared, hovered for a moment, and then dropped to the floor, still a few feet away. "Pretty good for the first time," he said proudly as he went to get it.

"I thought you were muggle-born," Gavin said curiously. "How did you know that spell?"

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I started read the spell book," Jack explained.

The bus jerked a little, and Jack looked out the window to see they had landed. A minute or so passed and an excited looking girl hurried onto the bus, and then rushed back out to retrieve her suitcase. It must have been really heavy because she had to get help from the driver.

"I promise I'll take good care of her!" he called to her worried mother.

He closed the doors and then spoke through the bus's intercom system. "That was our last house-call, we now have three stops to make for the older kids and then we'll be off to Zeme's!" There was a small amount of cheering after he finished.

Seemingly inspired by Jack, other students had now begun trying to summon their books. Although, Jack noticed, none of them succeeded noticeably.

"I'm okay with you doing magic on the bus, but don't blow anything up!" the driver called after a bright flash and a loud noise issued from the end of somebody's wand.

Gavin had found a page with a spell that he thought seemed easy enough.

"_Windgardiam Leviosa_," they both said together, and each of their books rose steadily off their laps.

"That'll be good for reading," Gavin joked, and his book fell to the floor.

Jack's followed as he laughed.

Half an hour later, they could keep the spell going without thinking about it, right in time for the bus to touch down again, in front of a crowd of people. Jack was sure the bus wouldn't be able to fit such a large number of students.

This time the driver didn't bother getting out of his seat, each student struggled to get his or her luggage onto the bus. As soon as the stepped foot on the first stair they performed levitating charms just like Jack and Gavin had been practicing moments before. Although these students seemed to have mastered it, they could command their luggage to go whichever way they wished. Only a small few seemed to have no luggage at all, and Jack thought they must have bags like his.

Just when it seemed that the bus was full, a flight of stairs appeared in the front, and students began climbing them without breaking the flow of moving bodies. With two more stops Jack felt positive that the bus would have to have at least four decks by the time everybody had boarded.

Once their deck was no longer full of bustling people, (it was, however, full of sitting people) Jack and Gavin began practicing their levitation charms again. A few more tried and Jack was able to get his book to move, and Gavin got it shortly after.

Quickly becoming bored again, they began making their books chase each other in an aerial game of tag. Suddenly, another book came out of nowhere and knocked both of theirs to the ground with startling speed.

"I win," a voice came from behind them. It was a student with short hair like a boy's, however their face gave her away as a girl. "I've never seen you before, so you must be first years, which makes me wonder how you're so good at that spell."

Jack could sense there was something strange about her. "We've been practicing for over half an hour," he confessed.

"Half an hour to learn a spell from a book and no previous magic?" she said skeptically. "You're either lying or are going to be exceptionally skilled wizards."

"Do you think so?" Gavin beamed.

"I know so," she replied, and she did seem certain. "You'll only learn that in charms class after learning two months of magical theory and precise wand movements. Even then it takes most at least ten minutes to make even a feather fly. You two are gonna be naturals!" She clapped them on the shoulder and sank back into her seat.

"She's nice," Gavin whispered to Jack.

Jack nodded his agreement, although he could not shake the feeling that there was something weird about her.

A cart came around, offering snacks and other food. Jack bought two slices of pizza and a glass bottle of something called pumpkin juice that Gavin had recommended. Pumpkin juice turned out to be delicious, and the pizza was the best Jack had ever had.

After lunch their boredom resumed again, and playing tag with their books became old very quickly. Once Jack cast a furtive glance behind him at the girl, who stuck her tongue out at him without looking up from the book she was reading.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Gavin asked.

"Whatta you mean?" Jack replied.

"Oh yeah, there are four houses: Zurak, Efural, Mekkler, and Eddif. I don't know much about them, but apparently everyone in Zurak is evil or something," Gavin said.

"How do they sort you?" Jack wondered.

"I dunno. My mom was in Efural, though."

"Does that mean you'll be in Efural too?" Jack asked.

"I know that entire families being in the same house is common, but I don't think it guarantees anything."

After a few minutes of silence Gavin brought out book, and Jack followed suit. Therefore it surprised him when the bus gave a jerk as it landed for the final time, Jack couldn't tell his surroundings because it was now dark.

"We have arrived, please walk calmly off the bus, your luggage will be taken to you cabin for you," said the bus driver over the intercom.

Cabins? Jack had thought this was a school, but maybe it was a camp. But he barely had time to think about that as the bus's aisle was suddenly full of students, eager to stretch their legs and to catch their first glimpses of the magical school.

"Did you know we were staying in cabins?" Jack had to shout to make him heard above the hundreds of feet pounding against the bus floor and upper decks.

Gavin shook his head, no. Slowly but surely they managed to force their way into the narrow aisle and were then forced to the front by the oncoming crowd of people. Once outside, the crowd was thinned enough to avoid being pushed, although it seemed wise to follow the crowd, as Gavin and Jack had no idea where to go.

It was very dark, but Jack was able make out trees on either side of the wide path. Up ahead, he could hear the comforting sound of a crackling fire.

Jack jumped as something in his pocket started wailing. Others were turning around to see what the sound was. He reached inside his pocket, and took out his phone. Its screen was white, and the sound was clearly issuing from the small piece of plastic. An older boy seized the object from him and tapped it with his wand, and it instantly became quiet.

The boy was muttering spells under his breath and for some reason it did not occur to Jack to take his phone back. Soon the phone was handed back to him.

"Now it will work," the boy said.

"What was wrong with it?"

"Electrical appliances go haywire in places with heavy magical residue. So I replaced the electricity with pure magical power. It will also get reception no matter where you are, and regardless of if you're paying for it," the boy said, and walked away before Jack could thank him.

He made a quick mental note to tell his parents to discontinue his phone service when a giant bonfire came into view. The leaping flames gave the impression that they were somehow alive and would never catch anything else on fire, but would not die.

"First years up here!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Hey, Grell," Jack said to the man.

"Greetings, Jack," he replied. "Who's your friend?"

"Gavin, sir," Gavin answered a bit sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you, _sir_," Grell emphasized the last word and his mouth twitched upward in an amused smile.

Gavin and Jack walked away, confused, as Grell continued to bellow for the first years to come. They were standing so near the fire that Jack's clothes felt as if they were burning his flesh. He forced himself to ignore it and looked around. Arranged in a semi-circle around the great fire were enough logs to seat hundreds of wizards and witches to be.

"Is that everybody?" Grell said to nobody in particular. "I think so, good we can start," he said, still muttering. "Everybody move about twenty feet in that direction, and wait for me to call your name," he said gesturing to the back of the fire relative to the seating logs.

"Do you think we have to do anything?" Jack asked Gavin, worriedly.

"I doubt it," he said, although his face was shadowed in uncertainty, despite the glare of the fire.

"The way that girl put it, it sounded like most first years don't know any magic at all."

"So if we do, we're actually more prepared than everybody else," he said confidently, and high-fived Gavin.

"You are so cocky," a girl near them said. "I'll bet I'm ten times better at magic than the both of you combined. That little trick you did on the bus didn't impress me, it looked easy."

"Yeah, than why don't you show us how easy it is?" Gavin shot back.

"Sure," the girl's voice remained steady, although her smirk had disappeared. "_W-wingardiam Leviosa_," she said, point her wand at a small stone near her feet. It gave a feeble little wobble, but nothing more.

Gavin and Jack laughed while the girl disappeared among the other nervous first years.

"Hello," boomed a man with his back to the fire, so Jack could not make out any distinctive features. "And welcome to another fabulous year at Zeme's Academy for Shamans and Druids. Before going to the feast, we must, as I'm sure you are aware, sort our new students! Grell, if you will."

The deep-voiced wizard stepped out of the shadows (where they came from, Jack had no idea) with a list in hand. "Here at Zeme's, we have four houses. Each is wonderful, has produced amazing witches and wizards, and each will suit you well if chosen to become a part of it. There is Zurak, for those among you who are cunning, and enjoy scheming. There is Efural, for those among you who will stand with your friends above all else. There is Mekkler, for those among you who prize knowledge, and love to learn. And finally, there is Eddif, for the brave and chivalrous.

"Afelger, Sarah!" he called loudly so that the name echoed across the clearing. "If you would please step forward," he added, softer this time.

The girl who had claimed to be so much better at magic than him stepped out of the crowd. Grell whispered to her and gestured for her to stand on something that was invisible to Jack from this distance. He stepped back a few feet, and then the flames leapt forward and engulfed Sarah, there were screams and gasps of horror from the first years, but the audience and teachers among them were surprisingly silent.

Above the fire, the word Zurak was slowly etched in flame, and then disappeared. The flames around Sarah receded, too much cheering from the far end of the log seating area. Jack realized that the students must be sitting according to house.

Grell whispered to Sarah and she walked to join the cheering students.

Other names were called and eventually it seemed normal when the student was encased in flame, but that did not reduce Jack's nervousness at all.

"Fenrir, Gavin!" Grell yelled.

Gavin walked forward, but looked back and grinned nervously at Jack, who tried to return it. Gavin stood in the spot and disappeared into the flame, the house name "Mekkler," blazed above the bonfire as the flames released Gavin. Grell whispered to him and Gavin went to take his seat among the Mekkler section of logs.

Now with absolutely nobody he knew, even remotely, around, Jack felt far more terrified than before. He had managed to make a friend, and now that same friend could be torn away from him. Of course they would see each other but it seemed only natural that your friends would be in your house. And he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the enchantment failed and he would be killed by the flames licking his skin, unprotected by magic that was surely centauries old if that was when the school was founded.

"Skye, Jackson!" Grell read off the list.

Jack stepped forward and into a circle, scratched into the dirt, that Grell motioned towards.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "This fire hasn't hurt anybody for hundreds of years," he said. But that was exactly why Harry was worried that the enchantment was too old, that its power might break as the fire surrounded him.

It was all Jack could do to avoid fainting in front of the entire school. The orange fire wrapped around him, and images of him throughout his childhood were portrayed when Jack dared to open his eyes.

There he was when his teacher had put him into the Gifted and Talented program. There he was, standing atop a five hundred foot cliff in the Badlands of South Dakota while his mother yelled at him to get away from the edge. There he was, arguing with the librarian as to how many books he could check out when there was a seven dollar fine on his card. There he was, panting as he reached the top of a rock wall, the instructor told him to start coming down, but Jack wanted to go further, he bunched his legs, and jumped towards the ceiling.

"I can see that there are two houses equally suited to you, Eddif and Mekkler. I give the choice to you," a scratchy, ancient voice told him.

Jack barely had to think. "Mekkler," he whispered, wanting to join his only friend.

The flames receded, there was Gavin and the rest of Jack's new house, cheering for him to join them.

"You have been chosen for Mekkler, congratulations, nerd," Grell teased, barely audible above the roar of the giant fire, only feet behind them. "I'm you're head of house and our cabins are on an island in the lake."

Jack walked off and plopped down next to Gavin. Like the rest of the school, they said nothing except for when the fire proclaimed they had a new member. Finally the last student took his seat and the man from before the sorting ceremony spoke again.

"Before we are all distracted by food I would like to remind students that wandering through the forests off the trails is forbidden for your own safety. Now, follow the prefects to the dining hall, where we will have a great feast to mark the beginning of what is sure to be a great year!"

Some of the older students were waving wands with tips ignited like an electric lamp, and beckoning other students to follow them.

Before long a building that looked like a large wooden cabin came into view. Jack noticed that the Mekkler prefects had directed them into a different entrance to the Dining Room than the other houses. Looking around he saw that each house was going inside its own entrance. Once inside it was obvious why, each house had its own part of the building, separated by a wall made of logs.

Once everybody was seated a loud pounding made all the chatter cease.

"I would just like you to be warned that there is a bit of a contest among the houses. Each dining room has a flag in its far corner," he gestured towards a tapestry with a bald eagle sewn on it, "and whichever house possesses all four of them wins. Mekkler has not won for ten years, and the past four years have all been won by Zurak."

"How do we get the other's flags?" somebody called.

"We invade their dining hall _during _a meal time. You are allowed to use all magic that does not cause the recipient more than a small bruise. All flags have been made impervious all magic that could cause it to be taken without being fought out."

"Well let's go now!" one first year yelled. Shouts of agreement were echoed across the hall.

"It is against the rules to attack during the first week of school," Grell explained. "Right now, first years can't do much right now anyways, if you're so eager to win I suggest you begin studying defenses spells and jinxes." Nods of agreement spread across the hall. "Now, enjoy your feast! We can begin planning attacks and defense strategies as soon as you like after today."

The once empty bowls and platters along the tables were suddenly filled with food. But Jack, who was an extremely picky eater, saw only a slightly unusual number of foods that he liked. Gavin and a few other kids were talking about Quidditch, so Jack tuned them out and focused on enjoying his pizza.

After awhile the conversation turned to the war between Europe and America.

"I heard that they caught a British soldier," the girl from the bus was saying, Jack had learned her name was Aqua and she was a second year. "And that they tortured him until he went insane.

A knot formed in Jack's stomach, in all the excitement of him being a wizard he had forgotten all about George and his promise to try and repair the little glass ball.

"Me too," said a third year. "Except I heard they were still trying to trade him for information."

"I still don't understand why there's a war between us and Europe," Jack said with his mouth full of pizza.

"The idiot Minister of Magic," replied Aqua. "In the wake of the Second Wizarding War relations between us were a bit strained as it was, and then our minister goes in and duels his way into the British Minister of Magic's office, accuses him of lying about the war. Says it was all a cover-up so they could build an army of dark wizards unnoticed. As you can imagine he didn't take to kindly to that, so they argued for a bit, and then our Minister stuns the guy. So of course security comes in and stuns him to, and it just escalated from there."

"Just to be clear," Jack said. "Our country's fighting a war because the Minister of Magic was too stupid to know when to close his mouth."

"Yep," was echoed by all those who had heard him.

"That's horrible," Jack said, although it was hard for him to care that much about it when his mouth was full of pizza.

For the rest of the feast they talked about their schedules. In the morning breakfast would start at 7:30, and although they were allowed to do whatever they wanted during meals, their house would have one less person to defend its flag. Breakfast ended at 8:10 and their first class began twenty minutes later. Each class lasted an hour and a half (including the small breaks in between), so there were only two classes in the morning. Lunch finished at 12:15, and afternoon classes began at 12:30. There were also only two classes in the afternoon, and the school day was over at 3:30. As first years, they would get Friday afternoons off.

Aqua had just finished telling them how easy the classes were when Grell stood up and announced that it was time for them to go to their cabins for the night.

He led them out of the Dining Hall and around a few paths to a lake where boats were waiting for them, resting half in the water and half on the shore. Grell clambered into one, obviously expecting them to do the same. Jack, Gavin, and Aqua ended up in the same vessel.

As soon as all three had sat down, the boat began to move of its own accord. All round them, the others were doing the same. At first going slowly, they picked up speed until there would be no distinguishing the motorless wooden boat from world-class speed boats.

They rounded a bend in the lake and began losing speed, eventually turning around and backing up into the sand, looking just like they had on the opposite shore.

"Second-years and above, you already have cabins," Grell began. "First year wizards into that cabin," he motioned to a short, squat, log building that was much too small to hold more than five wizards, much less the thirteen that Jack had counted. "And witches into that one," the cabin he pointed the girls towards was identical to the boys and sat right next to it. "The student lounge is the farthest cabin to your right. Now get to bed, big day tomorrow."

A boy Jack hadn't met yet was first to go into the cabin, a bit apprehensively. The short line of boys gradually shortened, and Jack still couldn't fathom how they were all fitting inside. He eventually walked through the door himself and gasped in surprise. The cabin, while not the biggest, had plenty of room inside of it. There were a few tables near the front, and in the back were four triple bunk beds and a single bed, which was already taken.

Jack and Gavin immediately made for adjacent top bunks that had been unclaimed until that point. Once they had gotten to the high up beds, their luggage appeared with a loud crack on a shelf next to where they would put their heads, along with a small creature with oversized eyes and pointed ears. I bowed to them and with another loud crack was gone.

In all the excitement Jack had completely forgotten that he had left his bag on the train. When he returned from the bathroom, changing into his pajamas, there was a thick, fluffy, green and red sleeping bag waiting for him on his bed.

**Author's note: I know it's not Hogwarts, but when I'm done with this one I'll write a sequel where he goes to Hogwarts. Reviewing makes that come faster**


	6. Chapter 6

A loud bell woke him up at 6:30 the following morning. A few minutes later, Grell banged into the cabin, clapping his hands.

"Up and at 'em!" he shouted to the sleepy eleven year olds. "First day of classes! You'll be needing some food if you want to impress your teachers!"

Everybody begrudgingly began to get ready for the day. Seeing the long lines in front of the three bathrooms, Jack got changed inside his sleeping bag, with only a small struggle.

Sitting up with his brown hair sticking out in seemingly random directions, Jack noticed a tapestry on the wall, and looking around the cozy cabin he saw that it was repeated all over the place. It showed a green pegasus in flight, set to a red background, and looking closer Jack noticed that its wings and entire body was moving subtly. He jumped up when the pegasus gave a great flap that even made noise.

"That's the seal of Mekkler," Gavin said from behind him, also dressed. "That's why our sleeping bags are green and red too. Now let's get off to breakfast. I'm starving."

The boats took them back across the lake, although Jack noticed that some kids were flying across on broomsticks or flying carpets (they seemed to be going much faster than the boats).

"Do you have a broom?" Jack asked Gavin.

"Nope," he answered. "I never played any broom sports and my mom could take me anywhere by side-along-apparation. That's apparating with somebody else."

"But what's apparation?"

"Kinda like teleporting," Gavin said after a few seconds. "Only it gets dangerous over long distances. Only really skilled mages attempt more than a hundred miles or so. And only the very top mages go transcontinental."

"How do you do it?" Jack asked, eager to see if he could do it.

"I dunno. You have to be seventeen to get a license."

The food at breakfast was mainly cereal and bagels, with bacon and scrambled eggs. Jack took a bit of all options except bacon, which he found disgusting.

Their first class of the day was charms, which Jack was really excited for. But he was let down, all that they learned was the basic background. Their wands were never even taken out, not even to practice the wand movements that Professor Dregyn kept saying were so important. It came as a relief when the class was over, and they went to a history of magic.

The subject was slightly more interesting, they went quickly over what they would be learning (goblin rebellions and the like) and went straight in. Jack was intensely interested at first, although he soon became bored as it was purely a lecture class. Gavin and Jack passed notes to each other the entire second half of the class.

Jack and Gavin walked into lunch complaining about the boredom both classes had induced. "It's just like muggle-school!" Jack exclaimed. "Only with different subjects!"

Gavin agreed with him, and the two spent the entire meal complaining with the other first years.

When they were walking out the door for their afternoon classes (hoping they would show some improvement). Jack realized that Grell, who had been talking with some seventh years this morning, had never shown up.

The afternoon classes were just as boring as the morning, and now they had a small pile of homework to contend with. Making up their minds to teach themselves, and still get perfect marks, Jack and Gavin did the homework during dinner, and were practicing charms well into the night. They had yet to master any but _wingardium leviosa_, but they were a good deal ahead of all the other students.

**Author's note: When Jack gets reviews he learns new spells!**


	7. Chapter 7

At breakfast the following morning, Grell announced the House Cup.

"Each house will be competing to win the most points for their house," he said loudly. "Things such as answering a question correctly will win you points, while breaking the rules will lose points. Points will also be awarded for winning Quidditch, Quadpot, and broom dueling. And every flag that is in our possession at the end of the year will give us fifty points. Zurak has won all of the competitions for the past seven years, so we need to beat them. Prefects will be the generals of the flag competition, and the broom duel which will take place next spring."

That morning, on their way to the first potions class of the year, they passed the bonfire that had sorted them and were surprised to find that it was just as bright and brilliant as two days ago.

Potions took place in a log building, just like all the other classes. But unlike all previous classes, only half of it was spent learning theory. The second half they began brewing a simple hair-changing potion.

Gavin and Jack, who hadn't been practicing potions, found it slightly difficult. Even so, they seemed to be faring better than most of their fellow classmates. Some of whose potions were flaming, had become solid rock, or had exploded in their faces. At the end of the class they had successfully brewed a potion that would turn their hair into any color they chose. They just had to add the final ingredient of an object colored how they wanted their hair.

Some of those who had done it correctly had used it immediately, their hair becoming tree leaf green or mimicking their friend's shoes.

**Author's Note: I know it's short, but it deserves to be reviewed anyways!**


	8. Chapter 8

It was the end of the first week, and all the classes had continued to be boring. Even in potions they hadn't done anything since that first day. But the similarities to muggle school were becoming smaller and smaller. In charms they began to go further into detail into the theories and wand movements, when Jack and Gavin applied them to their private studies they had much more success.

At breakfast the day before the week of safety was up, the prefects announced their plan to defend the flag.

"We are going to sort you into four skill level groups," said a girl whose name was Hannah. "The weakest is our first line of defense, and the strongest our last. That way if they manage to get past the first few, they'll keep having more difficulty until they're forced to retreat. We'll be testing you this afternoon after classes end, in front of the common room. If you don't feel like being tested we'll sort you according to age."

Jack was cursing himself inside his head. He hadn't even opened his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook outside of class. A quick look to Gavin showed that his best friend was thinking the same thing.

After class that day, the two stood in line to be tested. Both had no doubt that they would be put into the weakest of the four groups.

The test was a duel against Hannah, who was in her sixth year.

Jack took out his wand when it was his turn, returned the bow that Hannah gave him, and waited to defend himself. The silence seemed to stretch on forever.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" she yelled. A red jet of light flew from her wand.

Jack instinctively caught the spell on the tip of his wand, and it seemed to absorb the spell. Hannah looked shocked that a first year was able to withstand any spell.

A stream of fire was heading towards him now, unable to think of a spell that could defend him he just stared at what would surely give him third-degree burns. When the flames hit him, however, they were ice-cold and he shivered in the unexpected cold.

"_Stupefy!_" was Hannah's spell of choice now. And Jack was unable to block it on account of his shaking hand.

"_Rennervate_."

Jack saw Hannah standing above him.

"I have to admit I'm impressed," she praised him. "However you're still sorted into group one, sorry."

Gavin met the same response as he fell unconscious onto the ground.

This dinner was the last time they were sitting in non-defensive positions, and a chart of the general area everybody would be sitting in was up on the wall. All of the first years and almost all of the second years had been sorted into the first group.

At breakfast the following morning Jack was surprised to see Aqua sitting in the third group's area, even though she was only a second year, as he and Gavin were taking their seats near the door.

The meal had barely started when a commotion was heard in a nearby dining hall, the unmistakable sounds of jinxes and hexes drifted through the walls. It was soon over and they had no idea who had won, or even who had been fighting. Their own dining hall had fallen quiet to listen, and now broke out as over half the students made wild speculations about how Zurak must have captured a flag already.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts that day, they learned how to cast a tickling charm.

"_Rictumsempra!_" Jack cried, aiming the jinx at Gavin, who collapsed on the floor laughing. It wouldn't incapacitate an opponent but it would slow them down. This was, after all, the entire point of the first group.

Lunch was eaten in intense anticipation, with students pulling out their wands at the slightest movement or sound. A late comer to the meal was stunned as he came in through the door. Afternoon classes started and Mekkler house had not been attacked.

At dinner they heard the unmistakable sound of a hundred people running.

"Get ready!" Hannah screamed.

Everybody stopped eating, took out their wands, and faced the door. The running came closer until it sounded right in front of the wide wooden doors and abruptly stopped.

Suddenly the wall was blasted apart, revealing what must have been the entire Zurak house. The two houses stood, sizing each other up for a few seconds. A stunning spell flew over Jack's head and hit a Zurak prefect in the chest.

The invaders rushed into the dining hall. Before Jack could cast a single spell his legs locked together and he fell to floor. He twisted around, casting tickling charms at anybody he didn't recognize immediately. The girl from the first night, Sarah, was facing him now, she cast a body-bind curse at him and his arms became locked to his side and his entire body became rigid, only his eyes were allowed to move. How had she learned that spell? She was only a first year, and, judging from what had happened right before the sorting, not a particularly gifted one at that.

Sarah sneered at him and rushed off to join the fight once more. His eyes flicking around, trying to figure out what was going on, saw that Gavin was unconscious next to him. The battle raged all around him, it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand.

The bell signaling the end of the meal rang out, and the Zuraks rushed out, a few last spells flying after them. The older students and Grell were hurrying to cast counter-curses and heal whatever minor wounds there might be before rushing off to their own classes. Jack shakily got to his feet, followed by Gavin.

They were five minutes late for a History of Magic class, but they didn't care.

"Why did they just leave?" Jack asked Gavin quietly.

"They had to get to their own classes," Gavin guessed. "Or maybe it's against the rules."

Jack shook his head. "Grell said the only thing that's against the rules is seriously injuring somebody."

"He also said that you could only attack during a meal," Gavin said after a moment of thought. "When the bell rang it wasn't lunch anymore."

**Author's note: If you've read this far you must care enough to review, right? Please? Just for Jack?**


	9. Chapter 9

One day a seventh year student who could cast a disillusionment charm so powerful it would make him invisible left to spy on Zurak. He came back and reported that they already had Efural's flag and were planning another attack on Eddif, which was the only house that hadn't been attacked yet.

"That's great!" Aqua exclaimed when he had finished talking. "Eddif specializes in dueling! Zurak will never win!"

"What if they attack from all sides?" Hannah wondered. "We saw how easy it was for them to blow up our wall—" which had been mysteriously fixed, "—so why couldn't they blow up four?"

"The roof would fall in and crush them," another prefect reasoned. "Not even Zurak would go that far."

Jack wondered what he meant when he said "not even Zurak."

"Well then they could use brooms to attack from above and create even more confusion," Hannah argued.

"Even if Zurak stands a chance against them, what would you do?" Aqua asked her.

"Warn them," she said immediately. "We may not want them to get all the flags either, but we definitely don't want Zurak to win. There's no way we can let them win for the eighth year in a row."  
>"Uh," Gavin said timidly. "Can I say something?"<p>

All eyes found him and Hannah nodded her approval.

"Well," he began a lot more confidently. "If all we care about is Zurak losing, shouldn't we form an alliance with Eddif _and _Efural?"

His question hung in the air as everybody considered it.

"He's right," called Aqua (who Jack suddenly realized must be an exceptionally gifted witch for everybody to listen to a second year's opinions and place her in the third skill level).

"The prefects will consider it, and let you know our decision at dinner," Hannah asserted before anybody else could raise concerns or say that they agreed.

The afternoon classes dragged by even more slowly than usual, although they had occasionally been taught a new spell in most classes by now, today was not one of those days.

Dinner came and Hannah stood to announce the prefect's decision. "We will attempt to form an alliance with Eddif and will keep Efural in consideration."

The announcement was met with some applause, cheering, and booing.

"Gavin if you could come up here and take another first year with you," Jack was sure Hannah was just being nice to Gavin and him with the other first year bit.

Jack's best friend grinned at him and they wove their way through the tables to the prefect's. Their table had maps and notebooks all over it, Jack immediately thought of the control tent for a war.

"We want you and…?" she trailed off.

"My name's Jack."

"Jack to fly with Aqua," she gestured to Aqua, who Jack hadn't noticed until then. "To the Efural cabins today directly after dinner. Ask around for the prefects and tell them to meet me and Fred," Jack guessed that Fred was the other Mekkler prefect. "On this island tomorrow after dinner," when she said 'island' she handed him a map of the school with a small island on the lake circled in red.

"Er," Jack said. "We don't have brooms," he gestured to Gavin and himself.

"We'll lend you some," she said curtly, and pulled a broom out of her backpack.

Jack recognized it as a Nimbus 3000. Fred pulled another one out of his bag and handed it to Jack. Aqua pulled out a broom of her own.

"You'll have to slow down for me," she smiled dryly. "I've only got a Cleansweep 12."

"I also don't know how to fly," Jack said, a bit worried at what the response might be.

To his surprise, Fred and Hannah just smiled. "It's a perfect time for you to learn, then."

That night, the three of them mounted their brooms. Aqua and Gavin pushed off the ground as if they had done it hundreds of times before. Jack, however, felt incredibly silly. When he finally convinced himself that the broom would allow him to fly, he jumped as high as he could.

Expecting to either fall back to the ground or rise only a few feet as Aqua and Gavin had, it came as a surprise when the broom shot into the air like a bullet. He must have been two hundred feet in the air when Gavin caught up with him and took a hold of the broom's tail, causing it to stop so abruptly that Jack almost fell off.

Gavin showed him how to level the broom out, and told him where to put his feet. But when Jack asked how too actually _fly _it, all Gavin did was smile and zoomed back down to join Aqua.

"Did you tell him how?" she asked.

"Nope," he answered, and they both laughed.

All Jack heard was the wind as he tried to figure out how to make it move. Eventually he got his feet to rest on the golden rods sticking out like stirrups on a horse. He leaned forward and grasped the handle where "_Nimbus 3000_" was inscribed in gold. His feet instinctively and lightly pushed on what he thought of as pedals on a bike.

The broom inched forward. Suddenly feeling reckless, he kicked at the pedals as hard as he could, and the broom shot forward like a rocket. He shifted his weight a little to the right, just like riding a bike without using your hands, and the broom began to edge the way he wanted.

Gripping the handle so tightly his knuckles turned white , Jack finished the turn as quickly as he could, now shooting back towards Gavin and Aqua. Half because he didn't know how to stop, and half because he felt like he was invincible, he aimed the broom directly at them.

They barely got out of the way in time, and now Jack came back more slowly, and somehow instinctively stopped beside them.

"Ready now?" Gavin asked, amused.

"Yes," answered Jack.

"Follow me, then," instructed Aqua.

Without waiting for a response she sped off across the lake, where Eddif's cabins must have been. Gavin went after her, easily keeping up with her. Jack however, was still uncertain with the broom's controls. He struggled just to keep them in sight.

The brooms were so fast that Aqua came to a stop after just a few minutes. Gavin gracefully slowed down to stop beside her. But Jack was only able to stop the broom ten feet after the pair.

All three descended and landed. That is, if you count falling the last seven feet as landing.

The few Eddif students who were outside enjoying the last few minutes of daylight stared at them. A taller, well-muscled one came up to them.

"Whadda ya want?" he asked gruffly.

"We need to talk to the prefects," Aqua said confidently.

"You'll have to settle for one, the other's busy right now," he answered, crossing his arms.

Gavin handed him the map. "Our prefects want to meet you on that island after dinner tomorrow," he said, not quite as confidently as Aqua.

"What for?"

"We can't tell you that," Aqua said, cutting Jack off who was about to tell him.

"Why are first years delivering messages?" he questioned.

"I'm a second year," Aqua asserted. "And it was either us or the entire house, which we didn't think you'd take to kindly to."

"You Mekklers are too damn smart," the prefect observed. "I'll go. Can't promise about Thomas, though. Now get out of here."

As they flew away into the darkening night, Jack realized just how far the rivalries between houses went. It would be a miracle if the alliance turned out to work. Jack pictured Mekkler and Eddif dueling when somebody accidently said that their house was better.

The trio was about to land back at their cabins again when Aqua called out from above them. "Where do you think you two are going?"

"To Hannah and Fred to say that they're coming to the island," Jack answered.

"You two stay shut in your cabins every single night, you're going to have some fun before you go back," she said it as if it were a fact.

As usual, Gavin needed no convincing to do something fun, but flew up even higher than she was. Jack followed, albeit a little reluctantly. They flew higher and higher until they were as high as the clouds. It was different from seeing them on the ground, here they were great, fluffy expanses of white.

Overcome by curiosity, Jack flew straight into the nearest one. The cold and wetness surprised him. He jumped with shock and his feet slipped off the pedals, and he stopped moving immediately. Jack panicked. Here he was, unable to see, cold, wet, on a stalled broom hundreds—if not thousands—of feet in the air and only an amateur flier.

Jack sensed his broom moving again, although he was unsure in which direction and why. He broke out from the floating chunk of water, and saw Aqua flying upside down beneath him with one hand clutching her broom and one dragging Jack's with her.

"What the hell was that?" she snarled, letting him go and swiveling her broom upright again. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was? You just forget how to fly in the middle of a cloud, and your clothes aren't even waterproof! And on top of that, you don't even scream or anything so me and Gavin have to spend twenty minutes flying in and out of the cloud trying to find you!"

It hadn't seemed like twenty minutes to Jack, and he suddenly became aware of the fact that his clothes and hair were sopping wet and freezing. "I-I-I," his teeth began chattering, making it impossible to speak.

"_Tergeo,_" Aqua mumbled and Jack found his clothes and hair as dry as if they had never touched water.

Gavin flew up beside him. "Let's go back to the common room and you can get warmed up."

As they stumbled into the Mekkler common room, Gavin muttered "_Incendio_," as he pointed his wand towards the logs in the fire. The third year that had been using matches to try and start the fire jumped back in surprise when the logs suddenly burst into flames.

Aqua had gone to deliver the news to the prefects and return the borrowed brooms.

**Author's note: If you review, Jack will stop flying into clouds.**


	10. Chapter 10

Two days later Hannah announced that Eddif had accepted the alliance, and were now negotiating what that would mean.

Almost two weeks passed before they heard another word about it. It had been decided that the Eddifs would be joining them in their dining hall (which was apparently magical and could change size to accommodate more people), and would put their stronger people towards the door and their weakest towards the back. This would make their forces spread out over the room so it would be hard for Zurak to attack from any direction, including up. If it happened that they got all four flags they would each take two of them and split up.

It was weird eating with them, and tensions ran high between the older students. Jack thought that some of them spent more time glaring at each other than eating. It was also strange to see the dining hall twice its normal size, and the walls bearing Mekkler's pegasus and Eddif's red and yellow dragon.

Zurak and Efural must have had found out about the alliance because there were no more attacks and the spies reported no plans for attack. Meanwhile the prefects from both houses seemed to be hard at work, planning something. Their table was constantly covered in charts and notebooks rather than food. Jack didn't know how they weren't starving to death, as he never actually saw them eat.

As they planned, Jack learned that Quidditch and Quadpot tryouts were soon. He had no intention of trying out, but asked Gavin about the games.

"Quidditch is my favorite," he began. "There are seven players on each team. Three Chasers try to throw the Quaffle, that's a scarlet leather ball about a foot in diameter, through the three hoops at the opposite end of the pitch. Each time they score they get ten points. The Keeper tries to stop the other team from scoring. Two beaters fly around with clubs trying to knock the two bludgers, those are iron balls that fly around trying to knock you off your broom, away from their team mates and towards their team's opponents. And the Seeker, tries to catch a tiny ball with wings called the golden snitch. It's incredibly fast and agile so the Seeker is the best and fastest flier on the team. The game ends when the snitch is caught, and the team the Seeker's on wins an extra 150 points.

"Quadpot's a variant of Quidditch. There are eleven players on each team. The Keeper is just like Quidditch except he only has to defend a single cauldron, which is used instead of the goal hoops. Everybody else tries to throw the Quod, it looks like a Quaffle, into the cauldron of the opposing team before the ball explodes. If the Quod explodes while you're holding it you're out for the rest of the game. The game ends when one team reaches 100 points."

Jack decided he would be watching all of the games, they sounded immensely interesting.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_ I'm having a great time at Zeme's. I think I'm getting good grades and I'm learning lots of spells. Sorry I haven't written in awhile, but not much is happening. Gavin has asked me to stay at school with him during the winter holidays because his parents have gone to visit his older brother, who's studying Lethifolds in Peru. I'd hate for him to stay by himself with nothing to do, so can I stay too? I know you want ideas for Christmas presents and all I can think of is a broom and books. I've attached a broom magazine so you can order one, the _Nimbus 3000_ is the best, but a _Cleansweep 12_ would also be good. Don't waste money on a Firebolt, the Nimbus is just as good as it is. Don't worry about me falling, I've already borrowed a broom from somebody and Gavin tells me I'm really good at flying. I even went through a cloud once. Hope you two are having just as much fun back home._

_Love,_

_Jack_

Jack wrote the letter quickly when he realized he hadn't written for three weeks and his parents would be unable to send him letters as they didn't have an owl and he was pretending his phone didn't work around magic.

_Dear Jack,_

_If a flying broom is what really the only thing you want besides books, of course we'll get you one. We don't know if we could stand not seeing you for so long, but we understand what you're saying about Gavin. So we were wondering if he wanted to come over here! It would be a good chance to get to know your friend and we're sure both of you would enjoy it! We're glad to hear you're doing well and hopefully you're enjoying your classes a bit more now that they've started teaching you spells. We can't wait to see all the magic you've learned! We're sure you're going to be the best wizard of them all! Even better than that Dumbledore guy you were telling us about. Write back soon!_

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

Jack received the letter at breakfast at the beginning of November and passed it to Gavin, disappointed that their ruse to be able to stay at Zeme's for the holidays without hurting their parents feeling hadn't worked. Gavin, however, looked ecstatic.

"This'll be great!" he said. "I can't wait to meet real muggles! I bet they're fascinating!"

Jack laughed. "Trust me they're really kind of boring."

Suddenly Jack realized something, Gavin wrote to his parents all the time, but he had never seen Gavin receive a letter in response. He asked Gavin about it when their conversation came to a pause.

Gavin tensed as if somebody had just pointed a gun at his head. "I-I-I I'll tell you tonight, once everybody else is asleep.

Jack wondered why it was such a secret, but he went along with it. "While we're on the subjects, did you ask your parents if you can come?"

"Just tell your parents I can. My parents won't care."

Jack was stunned. This was the first time he had talked about his parents in a negative light. He decided not to press the issue, knowing that Gavin really would tell him why tonight.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_Gavin can come and is really excited to meet you too. But you won't be able to see me do magic because it's illegal to do magic outside of school until I'm seventeen. I am having more fun know that I'm learning spells _(Jack hadn't told them that he was also practicing magic outside of class)_. There's a neat one that I'm having trouble with that packs your stuff for you. This will help me pack to come home, seeing as I have no idea where half of my socks have gotten off to._

_See you soon,_

_Jack_

_Dear Jack,_

_I'm glad to hear that Gavin can come, and am disappointed to hear that you can't do magic outside of school. However, maybe you could do an illegal spell or two just to show off (don't tell your mother I said that, she'll have my head)? I was looking through the broomstick magazine you sent us, and found this ad for the coolest paper ever. When you touch it with the tip of your wand, it folds itself into an origami bird and flies off to deliver messages to people within a shortish distance. Of course you couldn't send messages to us using it, but it was so cool I just had to buy some for you, it's enclosed in the other envelope. Mom's away on a business trip until the start of December, but she reminded me to tell you how proud we are of you and that we love you._

_Love,_

_Dad_

Jack took out the paper, still standing on the path where Jerry had given him the letter, on his way to the potions building. Out of curiosity, he tapped one of the sheets with his wand. The paper folded itself into a graceful type of bird that Jack recognized as a phoenix from his textbook. It took flight and fluttered around his head.

"_Accio paper!_" somebody said from behind him, and the little paper bird shot backwards as if a strong wind had suddenly caught it. "What's this, Skye? Sending a love note?" it was Sarah again.

"Give it back, Sarah."

"What's the big deal? What's written in it?" she tried to pry open the paper bird and it started to screech. "_Silencio,_" she muttered, pointing her wand at it, and the birds cries were muffled slightly.

"_Sonorus,_" Jack cast the counter-curse immediately, now the bird was shrieking louder than ever. "Now give it back."

"If you're just being cheeky I'll have all of your papers, Skye. _Accio magic paper!_"

Jack didn't know the counter-curse for a summoning spell and he was unable to stop the papers from flying out of his hands. "_Tarantellagra!_" he shouted, and Sarah was forced to start dancing, dropping her school bag and the paper. All of which turned into birds and flew back to Jack.

She was about to hex Jack, but he cried: "_Silencio!_" mimicking the spell that had failed to quiet his bird, which had quit screaming. Sarah tried to shoot spells at him, but no sound came out of her mouth. It looked very comical.

Jack began to laugh and Sarah lunged at him. "_Deprimo!_" A ferocious wind threw Sarah backwards and she landed in a painful looking roll, crushing a few of the paper birds that had been thrown after her.

The silencing charm broke, and she looked ready to kill him. "_Incarcerous!_" Jack shot another spell at her. This time ropes burst from the end of his wand and tied Sarah up tightly, and she dropped her wand.

"What's going on here?" Professor Dregyn appeared with a crack in the middle of the two. "Dueling in between classes?"

"He passed me on the path and just started shooting hexes at me, sir!" Sarah lied.

With a flick of his wand, Dregyn untied Sarah, who shakily got to her feet. "Mr. Skye that's fifteen points from Mekkler and detention tomorrow night."

"But that's not what happened!" Jackson protested. "She tried to steal my paper birds!"

"So you decided to tie her up?" he asked. "There are far more civil ways to handle things, Mr. Skye. The detention is still on," he turned from Jack and faced Sarah. "As for you, stealing is not tolerated at this school and five points will be taken from Zurak."

Although Jack knew his parents would be angry with him for hexing another student, he was much too busy with taunting Sarah by making his paper birds fly around him whenever he saw her to care.

That night Jack and Gavin stayed up and waited until all the other first years were asleep to sneak out of the cabin. They got into one of the boats and told it to stop in the middle of the lake. Jack and Gavin sat in the boat for a few minutes, trying to stay warm beneath their pajamas on the late November night. Gavin, although usually excited and enthusiastic about everything he decided to do, seemed to be reevaluating his decision to tell Jack about his parents.

"You might not want to be my friend after I tell you," Gavin said finally, trying to sound brave, although his voice quivered. It reminded Jack of how he had sounded on the night they had met.

"I'll judge you for who you are now, regardless of what's happened in the past to you _or _your family," Jack said reassuringly, although doubts and suspicions began to pester him.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes while Gavin worked up his courage a bit more. "Everything I told you about my parents is a lie," he began, and waited for Jack to be angry with him.

"Makes sense," was his response. "I mean, if you're going to hide something it's easier to make up an entire new story than to try and build on the real one."

"I'm a voluntary orphan," he said, spurred on by his friend's indifference. "My dad was Fenrir Greyback, the most notorious werewolf in the wizarding world. He was so vicious that he even bit people when he was in human form. Even though—" he paused for another moment, gathering his courage to the point where he felt as if he could fearlessly burst into the Ministry of Magic and demand that the war was ended "—Voldemort was against werewolves, he made use of my father's savagery. He was killed in the war, but my mother was already pregnant. I can't even remember her, she beat me constantly. I think it was because I look like Greyback. Anyways one time she out shopping and I was barely old enough to walk I stole her broomstick. I flew in a random direction and found myself over the Atlantic Ocean.

"I was heading west, as I lived in Britain at the time, and was eventually found by some travelers above a small muggle village. I was half-asleep and barely able to cling to the broom when they rescued me. They brought me to an orphanage where I told them everything. As a small child it didn't occur to me to lie. I begged the witches and wizards there to not make me go back. They agreed to let me stay and I think my mom was in Azkaban, that's a wizard prison, for a few years.

"The only problem left was my birthright. Having been my father, Greyback might as well of bitten me," Gavin was sure that Jack had figured it out near the beginning of the story, but he had to say it, for his own sake. "I've been a werewolf since birth."

Jack looked at Gavin, noticing that the boy did look very wolf-like, and he couldn't help glancing at the moon to check if it was full, but the silver disk was nowhere to be seen.

Gavin laughed suddenly. "I take wolfsbane you know!"

Jack just looked at him curiously, silently begging his friend to tell him what that was.

"Wolfsbane stops werewolves from transforming under the full moon. It feels a bit uncomfortable and my senses get heightened but it doesn't go past that," Gavin was stopped grinning when he noticed Jack was still staring at him. "You don't want to be friends anymore, do you?" he asked in despair.

Now it was Jack's turn to laugh. "Of course I want to be friends with you! You're the best friend I've ever had! It just came as a surprise."

Gavin smiled with relief, and laid back into the large boat, looking at the stars. For the rest of the night Jack learned all of the wizard's constellations from Gavin. The only one in common with muggles was the Big Dipper, prominent even here where you could see so many more stars than in the city.

"You know I might be able to get my parents to adopt you, or at least let you visit for the summer," Jack said as the sun began to rise, slowly making the stars vanish.

"I don't want anybody to know I'm a werewolf," Gavin said.

"They wouldn't have to know. We could just tell them you're an orphan and the wolfsbane is for allergies or something," Jack suggested.

"The orphanage would tell them," Gavin said sadly. "Plus, there might be laws against muggles adopting wizards. Especially werewolves."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching the sun burn the scattered clouds as it rose above the horizon and then went to get dressed for their classes that day


	11. Chapter 11

The weather continued to get colder, and Jack was forced to buy a travelling cloak from the house store to keep him warm between classes. Snow sprinkled the ground as it was now early December.

Teachers had been giving them more and more work in preparation for the semester finals. It wasn't anything more than annoying to Jack and Gavin, who completed all the assignments easily. And to top it off they were nearing the end of their charms textbooks and were more than halfway through Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. To them it seemed that they would have to buy the second year textbooks as soon as Christmas Break.

Most of the tension between Mekkler and Eddif had ebbed away in the past month and a half. While they had not been attacked nor had they attacked anyone else. Spies reported that Efural and Zurak had been juggling flags, and that their defenses were mainly arranged against each other's weaknesses.

Finally one breakfast the prefects of both houses stood to announce their plan to attack Efural, currently in possession of both of the other flags at dinner tonight. Should they succeed in capturing them both, the alliance would not be split until after the holidays.

At lunch they went over the battle plan, Jack did have to admit that it was worth them planning for a month. It was pure genius.

Dinner came in no hurry, and Jack's stomach was full of butterflies. He had advanced a lot since the first fight, but there was a chance that Sarah had somehow managed to surpass his abilities again. Then he remembered that Sarah wouldn't be there, as she was in Zurak and they were attacking Efural. Still, he was nervous.

Three quarters of the alliance would be attacking, leaving the rest to defend just in case they got attacked.

The invasion force (including Gavin and Jack) set off on brooms, those who did not own a broom were sharing with somebody who did. Efural dining hall was not that far away, it was more so that they didn't hear them coming.

The brooms drifted slowly in the air, trying not to make any noise at all. They arrived at the dining hall and stopped. Hannah signaled to the seventh years who had been chosen to kick off the fight, and had been strategically placed.

"_One_," she showed with her finger.

"_Two._"

"THREE," she shouted.

The walls and roof of the Efural dining hall were blown to bits by silent spells, just enough wall was left to keep the structure standing. In all of the dust and confusion at least a dozen stunning spells found their mark on the defending army.

The boy with whom Jack was sharing a broom jumped off and ran into the fight, which was now being fought furiously from both sides. Jack and Gavin grinned at each other before taking flight, they were two of five fliers selected to dive down and snatch the flags during the chaos of the battle.

Jack saw the first flier get hit with a jinx and he tumbled off the broom, landing with a nasty sounding thud. It was his fault really, the instructions were to all dive at once, then there would be a higher chance of getting through.

Gavin and Jack had been chosen as fliers under Aqua's recommendation, saying that they would be more valuable in the sky than in the fight. Jack was glad of the excuse to fly again, the _Nimbus 3000_ responded to the most subtle of movements, and never seemed to do anything wrong.

Jack, Aqua, Gavin, and a girl he didn't know all dove for the two flags at the same time. The unknown's broom caught fire and she pulled away, screaming in pain and surprise. Aqua was blasted upward by an unexpected wind, Jack and Gavin barely managed to keep hold of their brooms.

They were right above the flags, each boy reached down and grabbed one. Gavin was immediately hit with a spell and sent crashing into Jack. Jack barely managed to keep hold of the broom and the flag, but he saw Gavin hit the floor unconscious. The flag was taken from him, whether by friend or foe he couldn't tell. He had no time to check, his role was to get away from the fight before getting caught.

Just when he thought he'd gotten away safely he saw a witch and a wizard chasing him on their own brooms, shooting stunning spells at him. Jack managed to evade them, and cast a few stunners back at them, although they didn't hit.

In a stroke of insight, Jack thought of how to get rid of them long enough to get help. He took a sudden left turn, his pursuers weren't quite so quick and fell behind a bit. When they were beginning to catch up, Jack shot straight up, once again they weren't expecting that and overshot the turn.

Now heading straight up, Jack searched desperately for a fluffy cloud on the mostly clear day. Finally spotting one he veered in its direction, this time his chasers were ready for it and turned easily. The cloud was getting larger as he came close to it, aiming right at its heart.

The cold, dampness, and darkness overtook him as he smashed into, turned a bit to his right, and slammed to a stop. Jack quickly reached into his robes and took out his magical parchment and a quill. "_above lake_," he scribbled blindly.

"Find Gavin," he instructed it. There were the telltale crinkling noises as the paper folded itself into a phoenix and then rushed off.

Jack knew he couldn't wait in the cloud for the Efurals to find him. And they would have probably sent for back-up of their own by now. So he shot out, hearing yells behind him.

He took out his wand and cast a body-bind curse in the sound's general direction. He kept going in the same direction, the flag clutched in one hand and the broom handle in the other, blindly casting spells behind him, hoping one of them would hit.

A wind sprung up so suddenly it could have only been done by magic, and he lost control of the broom. Jack spiraled downwards but was suddenly brought to a halt only fifty or so feet above the lake.

"I gotcha Jack," said a familiar voice.

His reinforcements had arrived. He was escorted back to the dining hall by half of each of the two houses the Fire said he should be in. It was a wonderful experience. They set up the flag, which was Eddif's, next to the other two and feasted until the bell rang a few minutes later.

The elation didn't last long, as Jack remembered he had detention that night. As he walked through the dark to the charms building it began to snow. Flurries at first, but soon Jack could barely see twenty feet in front of him.

He took a turn down a narrow path nearly blind, relying more on memory than the paths to navigate. A tree stood in his way and he realized he must have missed the turn and hit a dead end. Turning around to walk back, he saw a large shape blocking the path.

When the thing moved, Jack knew it wasn't a fallen tree or a rock, but a creature. It stood up and walked towards him, it had a large head, a skinny body, and a viscous spiked tail. Judging from the sound of it walking, its four feet were cloven and it was quite heavy.

Jack figured they wouldn't put anything dangerous in the forest so he wasn't too worried. Now it was quite close, its face was golden and looked like a large cat. Now Jack was worried, thinking back to mythology units at school the only thing that came to his mind were chimaeras.

"Run!" somebody shouted from a distance. Remembering that this was not a normal school were safety was their number one concern, adrenaline rushed through Jack's veins and he bolted.

He could hear the monsters tearing after him, its hooves pounding the ground and branches breaking like twigs when it ran into them.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" the voice shouted from behind him, the creature gave a small whimper of pain but Jack could tell it was still after him.

His saviors were shooting a variety of curses, hexes, and jinxes at the beast, but their cries were becoming distant and the sounds of pursuit from the monster were getting louder. Jack's cloak caught on a stick and he fell, death was the only thing in his mind. Now the beast was close enough to be seen clearly.

It had the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon. It was a chimaera. Seeing its prey on the ground, it advanced cautiously, knowing from experience that a cornered beast is the most dangerous type.

Jack fumbled for his wand inside his cloak, when he finally got it out, the chimaera couldn't have been more than ten feet away.

"_Incarcerous!_" he shouted the first defensive spell that came to mind. The ropes wrapped around the Greek monster's body, but with the first step it took they broke like twine. It knelt to sniff Jack, checking if he was edible.

"_Incendio!_" the creature didn't seem to notice the flames that sprouted on its back.

The lion head opened its mouth, revealing fangs sharper and larger than knives. It tentatively licked Jack's face. Where the saliva clung to his skin burned, and feeling it tenderly he felt blood.

His heart skipped at least three beats when it prodded him with its hoof. Jack heard sounds of another monster running towards him. It leapt over his body and tackled the chimaera. The two beasts grappled and a hand seized his and pulled him onto a broom.

"Fly," the mystery man commanded.

Jack, mind still dull from fear, obeyed without question, quickly rising above the canopy of trees. Looking below when he judged he was high enough, he thought he saw a lion for a moment, and not just the chimaera's head.

Tearing his eyes away from the blood-speckled snow, he looked around for the man who had saved him. A few feet away, floating on a broom of his own, was a middle-aged man, he looked familiar but Jack couldn't quite place him.

"What were you doing in the forest?" the man asked. "I told you all at the beginning of the year it was off-limits," his tone was very matter-of-fact, but not accusatory.

"I got lost in the snow," Jack said. "Who are you?"

"I'm the headmaster."

"Why are there chimaeras in the forest?"

"Not even gonna thank me?" the headmaster snorted.

"Thank you," Jack said. "Now why are there chimaeras in the forest?"

"That's the only one, actually," the headmaster replied. "It's for the students studying for their N.E.W.T.s in Care of Magical Creatures. The thing that attacked it was a manticore, no doubt angry at its territory being invaded."

"It didn't see me?"

"You're not a threat to it, there are only a handful of documented slayings of both species ever. And most who are successful die of exhaustion shortly after. Now I suggest you get to your detention, just leave that broom outside your cabin tonight, and don't wander off this time."

"Wait, who was chasing the chimaera after me?"

"The N.E.W.T. students, and one of them is in a fair bit of trouble for trying a killing curse on it. Not only is it unforgivable, but had it worked I would never be able to convince the Ministry to let me get another chimaera. I do have to say I was impressed by your performance during both the dinner raid and just now. Off you go then, you're already late. And keep up your studies with Gavin. Dangerous as they are they'll make you both exceptional wizards in the future. You remind me of Grell as a student."

"You're old enough to have taught Grell?" Jack wished he hadn't said that immediately.

The headmaster, however, laughed. "nah, Grell's barely out of school you know. But when he came home from the army I was unable to turn down his application as a teacher, seeing how talented he is. But you and me both really do have to be off, I'll send word to your professor saying that it's not your fault that you're late."

Before Jack could thank him, he was off, flying in a direction that Jack didn't think had any buildings.

Detention was just boring, he sat there with a few other older students for almost two hours. Jack found himself tapping his wand against the desk in boredom, which was accentuated by the excitement just a few minutes ago. Each tap left a small singe mark on the wooden surface.

He looked up to find an irritated Professor Dregyn staring down at him. Dregyn flicked his wand and the singe marks disappeared, but he obviously wanted Jack to stop.

**Author's note: Come on, you've read this far, you must care enough to review. Please? It makes chimaeras not eat little children.**


	12. Chapter 12

_Dear Jack,_

_I can't believe you got detention! And for hexing another student! I had to write to her parents and apologize! Do you have any idea how immature that is? Just because you can use magic doesn't mean you should use it to _attack_ your classmates! You're just lucky I didn't send a howler! In the letter I got it suggested that and explained what they were! I expect better of you in the future, and I still can't wait to see you and Gavin over winter break._

_With love,_

_Mom_

Jack only wondered what a howler was, and decided to ask Gavin when he got back to the dormitory.

_Dear Jack,_

_While I don't approve of you hexing another student, I'm sure you had a good reason. I barely managed to talk your mother out of sending a howler, though. I hope you're still trying hard at school and find the classes interesting. Can't wait to see you next week._

_Love_

_Dad_

It was a week before break, and it was becoming increasingly hard to focus in a History of Magic and Divination, the only two classes that Jack and Gavin had trouble with. Their teachers must have been telepathic because Jack swore that the homework in those classes was at least twice that of all the other ones.

The common room was always silent and busy with over half of the house studying, the only noise they ever made was the turn of a page or the scratch of a quill on parchment. It was an eerie place to be, so Jack and Gavin struggled through the History of Magic and Divination homework out on the lake. There you could hear the splash of waves on the hull of the boat, the birds singing in the distance, and the wind rustling the trees back on shore.

Having a paper phoenix fluttering around his head had become a habit, he didn't even think of it anymore. So it came as a surprise when Sarah came up to him on his way to potions looking angry.

"I get it, okay!" she screamed.

"Get what?" Jack asked in genuine confusion.

"Are you really so arrogant that you need to make me say it?"

"Uh…" Jack didn't know what to say. "Yes?"

"I get that you beat me in a duel," she began. "That you're a good wizard, maybe even better than me. That teachers love you enough that you can get away with _attacking _me. That your muggle dad is smart enough to get his hands on magical paper. And that you're an arrogant twat that only takes pleasure in annoying me!" it all came out in a rush, and by the last sentence she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Oh," Jack said, stunned. "Sorry, it's just become a habit to have this bird around," he hastily snatched it out of the air and unfolded it with a tap of his wand.

This only seemed to make Sarah even more angry, as she stormed off in a huff.

Everyone was staring at Jack, who had turned red in the face. Aqua tapped him on the shoulder, and he spun around. Ever since the chimaera had attacked he had been on edge around the forest.

"What did you do to her?" she asked curiously.

"She, uh," Jack stammered. "She tried to take my magic parchment. It folds itself into a phoenix and delivers itself to whomever you want it to. So I hexed her. Multiple times."

"Nice," Aqua said. "Standing up for yourself. And she is right you know."

"About what?"

"About you being a great wizard, duh," she said. "I've seen some of the spells you can do. Most first years will be able to do those by the end of the year, if they're lucky." Aqua walked away without saying another word. Realizing he would already be late as it is, he walked down the path to the potions room.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was the morning that began Winter Break, and Jack was struggling to use a spell to pack his belongings because he couldn't find half of his clothes. By the time he succeeded most of his classmates were already gone for breakfast.

Gavin had had similar troubles, so they left on a boat together. Just when the boat was about to push off the shore, somebody shouted "wait!" from across the shore. The boat didn't stop moving, and the person was now sprinting across the snow-covered beach.

Jack and Gavin didn't see the point in waiting, as there were still three other boats, so they let their vessel continue on. They were three feet into the water and the hull was still scratching the bottom of the lake.

Aqua didn't stop at the shoreline, but rather continued to run and jumped in the back.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" she asked and hit them both lightly on the head.

Jack was about to answer when he realized the question was rhetorical. "Why didn't your robes get wet?" Jack said instead. "You just ran through the water and they're completely dry."

"I put an impervious charm on them," she answered.

A few minutes later the boat landed a short distance from the dining hall. It was on fire. Mekkler and Efural students who weren't lying on the grass (the snow had been melted by the fire), coughing were attempting to put it out, but with limited success.

"What happened?" yelled Aqua as she ran up to help.

"Zurak attacked us the minute the bell rang," Hannah answered. "They set the dining hall on fire. Whoever did it must have known what they're doing because water doesn't do anything to it. We all ran out, and a few of them ran in to get the flags. We think they have all of them now."

Jack and Gavin just stood there, not knowing what to do if water couldn't help. They didn't know any spells to help those who were coughing either. It seemed as if Zurak was going to win, despite the alliance.

Eventually the dining hall just burnt down to the ground and the fire went out. It was all the senior students could do to stop it from spreading. It was Saturday so there were no classes, when the bell rang and the two houses were walking slowly towards the Efural dining hall, figuring they would get some food before the bus came.

Their dining hall looked identical to theirs, the only difference being the banners on the wall. Even though it wasn't breakfast anymore, the tables were laden with toast, bagels, omelets and cereal.

The tension that had existed at the beginning of the alliance were long since gone, and as the despair of the morning wore off the dining hall was filled with chatter between inter-house friends.

Later that day the bus landed just where it had when it had dropped them off three and a half months ago. Jack and Gavin were near the end of the line and were forced up to the fourth deck, which was fun. Aqua and an Efural girl ended up sitting behind them.

Deciding to make it a tradition, the three played tag with their books the entire time. But after an hour or so almost every student on their floor had joined in. By the time the bus landed at its first stop a seventh year had added the rule of changing the book that's "it" red and all the others green. By the second stop some sixth years were saying they should enchant stones to do it automatically. It seemed as if Jack and Gavin had started a new business at the school.

Aqua got off at that stop, and now the fourth deck was mostly empty. The game of tag subsided with only them and five other people still on the floor. Finally Jack pulled out a book and began to read.

The book had wizards, witches, wands, and brooms. But Jack couldn't help but smile at how comically wrong it was. Finally the bus touched down in front of Jack's house when the sun had just finished setting.

Jack and Gavin quickly gathered their belongings and rushed out of the bus, eager to stretch their legs. As soon as they stepped off the bus the driver gave them a friendly wave, closed the doors, and took off again. It was an amazing sight to see a quintuple decker bus in the first place, and then to see one fly was one of the most wonderful things Jack had ever seen. Even though he had spent the past few months practicing and seeing magic, he still had to marvel at the charms placed upon that bus.

He turned around and walked straight into his mom, who pulled him into a tight hug. "I missed you so much," she said. "And you must be Gavin."

"Hello, Mrs. Skye," he said as he held out his hand.

"You can call me Mary," Jack's mom said, taking his hand.

"Mary, then," Gavin replied, the red in his face gone, replaced by a smile. "Thanks for letting me stay with you."

"Oh it's no problem," she said. "Just the Christmas spirit and all that. I just hope our home's comfortable enough for you, seeing as how your house must be full of magic and ours has none."

"I'm sure it'll be great," Gavin answered, his smile growing wider with every passing second.

"Oh here I am, making you two stand out in the cold," Jack's mom said suddenly. "Let's get you two inside before you freeze to death or somebody notices the way you're dressed."

Gavin was wearing his robes and cloak, while Jack had on jeans, a shirt, and his cloak. They rushed inside, eager at the suggestion. The cabins weren't heated so it was, quite literally, a warm welcome back home.

Jack took off his cloak and threw it into a closet by the door, and motioned for Gavin to do the same. He still looked very out of place with his robes rather than muggle clothes.

"Do you have muggle clothes, dear?" Mrs. Skye asked.

Gavin shook his head no.

"Well when the family comes over you can borrow some of Jack's."

Gavin looked over at Jack worriedly, clearly not having thought of meeting Jack's entire family. Jack just shrugged to say that they'd just have to hope for the best.

"Now remember Jack, we've had to tell the relatives that you're attending a normal boarding school, so keep that in mind when they come around. And Gavin, I'd appreciate it if you'd pretend the same."

Gavin nodded in agreement, barely listening as he looked around the house. "What does this do?" he asked, picking up a telephone.

"You can use it to talk to people anywhere like they're in the same room," Jack answered, stifling a laugh.

"Why don't you just use the Floo Network?"

"I don't know what the Floo Network is, Gavin," Jack said.

"Right, I'm still thinking 'magic,'" Gavin said.

"Of course," Mrs. Skye said. "Jack why don't you show him around the house and answer any of his questions. I have to do some laundry."

So Jack and Gavin walked all around the house, explaining everything from lamps to smoke detectors. Gavin seemed amazed by everything, wondering how they could possibly work without magic. Jack was able to explain some things, like lamps and dishwashers. But refrigerators and microwaves were beyond him.

As a result they spent most of the next few days on the internet, researching electrical appliances. Gavin was in awe of how muggles managed to do many things with electricity that wizards did with magic. Airplanes especially amazed him ("They're made out of metal!" "They fly faster than most brooms, and without magic!").

Jack couldn't help but laugh at some of the things Gavin didn't know or was perplexed by.

They were having such a good time researching, sledding, and having snowball fights that they almost didn't notice when it was Christmas Eve. Gavin actually came downstairs in his robes like normal and then realized he would have to change into some of Jack's clothes like whenever they went outside.

Seven minutes later he stood in jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. He looked very uncomfortable. "I can stand coats and sweatpants, but why do you wear these? They're so uncomfortable."

"Really? I think they're fine," was Jack's reply.

Gavin's annoyance with muggle clothes didn't seem to last long, as twenty minutes later he was wolfing down scrambled eggs and freaking out that he wouldn't do a good enough muggle impression.

"You'll be fine," Jack assured him.

"But what if I say something that wizards consider normal and muggles think of as pure fantasy?"

"Like what?"

"Like some joke about how much the Chudley Cannons suck!"

Jack didn't know what Gavin was talking about, but decided it wouldn't help to point that out. "If it really worries you so much, just pretend you're too shy to make very much conversation. My relatives are boring anyways, you probably won't want to talk."

So when Jack's aunt showed up, Gavin said hi and kept mostly to himself. He and Jack lazed on the couch as more and more relatives arrived. Gavin seemed transfixed by the conversation about politics, although Jack was struggling to stay awake, having heard the conversation a hundred times before.

Eventually Gavin became more confident in his muggle speech and partook as best he could with his limited knowledge of muggle politics. Once he mentioned the war, but Jack saved him saying he meant the drug war in Mexico.

Dinner was almost as delicious as the opening feast at Zeme's, although it was dampened by the ongoing 'discussion.' Finally they began to filter out, much to Jack's relief.

"I don't know what you mean by 'boring,'" Gavin said to Jack while they were getting ready for bed. "That was one of the most interesting days of my life."  
>"Yeah well they have the same conversation every single time they come over," Jack replied. "It gets old."<p>

Jack went to bed that night, thinking of presents and realizing how left out Gavin would feel in the morning.

They woke up on Christmas morning and 6:30 and tip-toed down to the tree, brilliantly lit by the lights.

"At the orphanage we used candles," Gavin remarked, a bit nostalgically.

"You put fire, in a tree?" Jack asked.

"Well the adults fire-proofed the tree with magic," Gavin said.

They went up to the tree, it had three packages under it. There was a rectangle, which Jack was sure was a book, and two long skinny packages. Jack wasn't sure why there were two, until he looked at the labels, one of them was for Gavin.

"This one's for you," Jack said, handing him the package.

"Who's it from?" Gavin wondered.

"My parents," Jack said. "The wrapping paper is identical to mine."

"Your parents got me a gift?" Gavin said, the smile that accompanied Christmas grew even wider than it had when he met Jack's mom. "That's so nice. Why though?"

"I don't know," Jack said sarcastically. "It couldn't be because no presents have shown up for you in the mail, or that they like you, and there is no way in Merlin's pants that it's for Christmas."

Gavin sat on the floor, holding his present, just staring at it with his grin that made him look ever more like a wolf than he already did. Jack's parents woke up in a few minutes and they started opening presents before breakfast.

Jack opened his book first, it was entitled Easy and Uncommon but Useful Charms for the Beginning Magi. After thanking his parents Jack and Gavin began to open their identical presents at the same time.

As soon as he ripped the paper, Jack knew it was a _Nimbus 3000_, he saw the golden inscription where the paper had been ripped. He eagerly tore the rest of the red and green paper off in less than three seconds. Jack really admired the broom for the first time, the subtle curve and invisible cushion allowing you to sit comfortably, the sleek tail and elegant golden foot rests, but mostly the enchantments.

It was as if he could sense them. A long string of Latin sounding words popped into Jack's head. Almost unconsciously, he split the words up into levitation, forward, turning, and braking charms. There was no question in his mind that they were the right enchantments for this broom, and he also did not doubt that if he had more knowledge of magical theory he could tweak just a word here and there to make it even better.

There were many thanks and hugs after that. Jack couldn't help but think that Gavin seemed more sincere than he did, but of course they were the same. Of course Jack and Gavin wanted to try them out right away, but Jack's parents pointed out that if they went around riding flying broomsticks in the middle of the day right above the city, somebody would notice them.

A few days later, Jack's dad drove them out to the woods so they could test out their brooms. Along the way Jack's dad gave a lengthy and in-depth description of how a car works for Gavin, who was listening intently. It took almost two hours to get to a spot in the woods that looked deserted enough, and then they walked for half an hour to get away from the road.

When they finally emerged in a small clearing that they could take off from, Jack and Gavin were thankful just to be able to give their legs a rest. Which they did, of course, by testing out their brooms.

Jack's dad lay back in the tall grass and watched the boys zooming above him, occasionally worrying when one took a sharp turn or went really high only to dive bomb towards the ground.

Gavin and Jack were completely at ease, trying rolls and dives, and racing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack felt which incantations were being used depending on what he did. He turned right and the spell that allowed him to do so came to light. He eventually learned to ignore it and focused on flying.

Four hours later they had to go home so they would be in time for dinner. The two friends reluctantly alighted upon the ground, both slightly unsteady from flying for so long.

Although he couldn't use magic to pack, Jack found it much easier now than he had at school. It might have been because he left most of his robes at school so there was less stuff to sort through. When Jack had changed into his robes and had his cloak and bag ready, he went downstairs to where Gavin was already waiting.

Unlike when it had first come, the bus arrived in just ten minutes. Jack helped Gavin heave his heavy trunk onto the bus, and they went to sit down on the first (and so far, only) floor.

After the first stop, a seventh year was selling green and red rocks that would change color when it hit an opposite colored rock for four sickles each. Jack bought two, one for him and one for Gavin. Soon the entire bus was utilizing them to play tag even more rapidly than before.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Now that they had brooms, Gavin and Jack divided their free time between learning new spells and zooming around, high above the lake. Once they tried to see how high they could go, but the cold stopped them from reaching the maximum height. Seeing them fly around, they were occasionally joined by others. Most frequently, Aqua.

Over the break the Mekkler dining hall had been rebuilt, but the alliance still ate in Eddif's. The prefects and a few other students were busy planning again, although in the absence of any flags to defend the seating arrangement was thrown out the window.

One day Jack, Gavin, and Aqua were called up to the prefect table. "Seeing how well you handled it last time, we want you three to go to the Efural prefects and tell them to meet us at the same island as last time," she handed Jack a map identical to the one he had given the Eddif prefects months earlier. "We're making an alliance with them. It's the only way to get the flags away from Zurak."

"Won't that cause trouble later, when we have four flags and three houses to split them between?" Aqua asked.

"Yes, but I'll gladly lose the competition if I can be assured that Zurak will lose."

After classes that day Jack, Gavin, and Aqua took to the sky. Even though Gavin and Jack had superior brooms, Aqua had no trouble keeping ahead (she was the only one who knew where they were going). Jack even suspected that she might be holding back a bit, while Jack and Gavin were going as fast as they could.

They landed in the middle of the forest on a wooden bridge connecting two trees.

"Where are the cabins?" Jack asked, scouring the forest floor with his eyes.

"Not on the floor," Aqua snorted. "In the trees."

Looking up, Jack saw that although he thought the bridge was just connecting two trees was actually connecting two trees with mammoth tree houses in them. Aqua went to the one on her left, where a lot of noise was coming from. Not bothering to knock, she pushed open the door and stepped in. Jack and Gavin were a bit more hesitant, but followed her example.

The room they were in was full of people talking and playing games. Jack realized it was the Efural common room. All chatter stopped when they noticed the trio standing in the doorway.

"We need to talk to the prefects," Jack said, confident now that he had already done this once.

Two older girls got up and walked over to them. "What do you need?" one of them asked.

Jack was taken aback, he had expected to hear hostility after seeing the reaction they had gotten from the Eddif prefects.

"We need to talk to you in private," Aqua said, confidently but slightly demanding.

The two girls led the way out of the common room and into the other tree house. Inside there was a hallway with seven doors on each side. Each door was labeled with a list of names, Jack thought they must be more like dorms than the cabins that Mekkler and Eddif students slept in.

They were led into the last room on the left side, it was completely devoid of people. There were bunk beds like in Jack's cabin, however they went four bunks high and only had three of them. The prefects sat down on a bed.

"So what do you want to talk about?" one of them said.

"The Mekkler and Eddif Alliance would like to invite you into it," Aqua said. Jack wondered why she was explaining this to them but hadn't to the Eddif prefect.

"Why would we want to join?" The taller of the two asked.

"I can't negotiate terms with you, but know that the reason the alliance exists is to allow one of us to win, rather than Zurak. If you're interested meet our prefects on an island tomorrow after classes end," Aqua said it like they were negotiating an alliance between two countries.

"Which island?" the shorter one asked.

Jack handed her the map.

The two looked at it for a few seconds and said "We'll be there," in unison.

On the flight back, Jack asked Aqua why she had said outright that they wanted an alliance rather than keep it secret like she had to Eddif.

"You know we're sorted into the four houses by the Fire recognizing our strongest personality traits. Eddif students are brave, and are usually curious. So by not telling them what our prefects wanted insured that they would go. But Efurals aren't as curious. And they wouldn't want to offend us because they're so nice. If we hadn't told them they might have suspected a trap."

"Wouldn't the Eddifs have suspected a trap too?" Gavin asked.

"Yes," Aqua said. "But they wouldn't care that much because they're so brave."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Quadpot and Quidditch tryouts were coming soon, but first-years weren't allowed to play so the reason they were excited was now there was another opportunity to beat Zurak. One game of either sport was equal to having one flag at the end of the year.

When the day of the first game of Quadpot (Mekkler against Zurak) came, Jack wasn't surprised to see Aqua on the team. All twenty-two players mounted their brooms and Madam Trew prepared to throw the Quod into the air.

"I know that these are the two teams most likely to cheat, but I also know that you will get penalized heavily if you do so. I want a clean game. Make your houses proud of the way you played and, hopefully, won. Let the game, begin!" Madam Trew through the Quod into the air, and all the players kicked off the ground after it.

A player that Jack didn't know was guarding the Mekkler cauldron, and another student he didn't know guarded the Zurak cauldron. Aqua caught the Quod and threw it another Chaser before she could be attacked by ten Zurak players.

He headed down the pitch, threw it to a female Chaser, who in turn shot it into the cauldron. "Ten points to Mekkler!" Madam Trew, also the referee, announced.

The ten chasers flew around the pitch, in an arrowhead pattern, to show their glee.

When the score was twenty-thirty in Zurak's favor, the Quod exploded in Zurak's team captain's face. She was thrown of her broom and hurtled towards the ground. Cushioning charms from all over the crowd flew towards her. She landed softly on an invisible barrier, which slowly lowered her to the ground. Jack couldn't see very well, but he guessed that she had some pretty nasty burns.

The nurse ran up to the fallen captain and waver her wand, then ran off the pitch. The captain went and began to watch the game from the sidelines.

Only twenty minutes later, the score was ninety-ninety, and each team was down to four chasers and a keeper. Aqua was one of the few still flying.

All three of the other chasers were all the way across the pitch, and Aqua was desperately trying to score whilst avoiding the enemy chasers. She shot and it was blocked by the keeper. He threw it halfway down the pitch where it was caught by one of Zurak's chasers. The Quod was knocked out of his hand by Hannah, who somehow found time to play and keep up with her prefect duties.

Hannah and Aqua flew down the pitch, passing the Quod back and forth to keep it away from Zurak. Aqua made to look like she was going to shoot, only ten feet away from the cauldron. But as the Keeper moved to defend it from her she threw it to Hannah, who immediately threw and scored.

Fireworks shot out of the cauldron, as if was celebrating with Mekkler, Eddif, and Efural, who really just wanted Zurak to lose.

All three houses threw a party together, in the Efural common room, that night. Even with the magic that usually made sure there was enough room, the tree-house was crowded. When the Efural prefects announced that they had accepted the alliance halfway through the night, the partying only became more intense. Aside from the dancing, games, and music, A potion that made you levitate was being passed around. Although only some took it, their floating bodies only added to the confusion.

Knowing that he wouldn't be paying attention in class tomorrow anyways, Jack and Gavin stayed until they were kicked out by the Efural prefects. And then they flew around on their brooms shooting sparks out of their wands with the Quadpot team and a few other students. They were supposed to be in their cabins by 9:00 but no teachers came to yell at them and seeing as the prefects were accompanying the partygoers they could hardly get them in trouble.

The revelry was still going hard around 3:00 in the morning when Aqua flew up to Jack and Gavin.

"Bet I can beat you to that cloud," she taunted and turned to speed off towards the cloud she had indicated.

Jack knew she was right, but raced after her anyways, closely followed by Gavin. They broke through the cloud line and were met with an amazing sight. There was a gigantic Arabian flying carpet, its surface dotted with tents and broom racks. The style reminded Jack of Aladdin.

The carpet rippled slightly in the wind, but for the most part was stationary.

"What is it?" Jack whispered.

"It's a British warship," Aqua sounded quite pleased with herself.

"I thought the schools were neutral territory," Gavin said.

"They are, but the school's invisible."

Jack glanced downwards and was surprised to find that she was correct. The students trailing sparks from their wands, the cabins, even the class building were all gone. In its stead was the familiar beautiful lake and surrounding forests.

"But don't they have maps, marking it?" Gavin asked.

"The school's unplottable."

Gavin nodded in understanding, and Jack just pretended to know what she meant, deciding to look it up in the library later.

"But what's it doing here?" Jack asked.

Aqua and Gavin looked at him like he was stupid.

"Right," Jack said. "War."

"Come on, then," Aqua said. "Let's explore it!" as is usual with Aqua, she turned around and set off, without waiting for an answer.

Overcome by curiosity, Jack followed. Thinking _curiosity killed the cat, good thing I'm not a cat_. Gavin, slightly more hesitant, flew after the two.

Jack following Aqua and Gavin following Jack, the trio flew silently, mere feet below the gigantic flying carpet. They turned upwards and landed. The material was surprisingly sturdy. Under Jack's bare feet it felt soft and silky.

Aqua deftly ducked around a silent and light-less tent, and looked through the flap of one lit very brightly. She motioned for them to look. Inside the small tent was much larger. At least twenty wizards and witches stood, listening to a red-haired wizard speak. The wizard in question was covered in blood and scratches, Jack became aware that he was handcuffed and tied to the wall. Everybody in the tent except the prisoner was facing away from the entrance.

Jack pulled his head out and faced Gavin and Aqua. "I'm going to cast disillusionment charms on you," she whispered. She muttered something and it felt to Gavin like an egg had cracked on top of his head. "Restituo" suddenly popped into Jack's head, and he realized that must be the incantation for disillusionment charms. He looked down at his hands and could barely see them, not because of the dark but because they were faint, like shadows with a flashlight shown on them.

Acting on instinct, Jack strode into the tent as silently as he could, and stood behind everybody, trying to blend in with the wall.

"It was a little glass ball," the prisoner was saying. "I inscribed _Magic Maker_ on it in cursive, mimicking Albus Dumbledore's handwriting as best I could," the prisoner fell silent.

"Tell us everything," a wizard near the front, wearing a pointed hat striped with gold.

"That is all I know," the prisoner said, suddenly pulled on the chains. "Now please let me go! I have a wife and two children! The older one would be going to Hogwarts this year. I need to see him off. Please!" the last word was a desperate scream.

"How cute," the wizard replied calmly. "We'll let you go when you tell us _everything _that you know."

"That is all I know!"

"Draco, if you will," the wizard pointed to a pale blonde man.

"_Crucio!_" Draco yelled, his wand shaking as he pointed it at the man bound in chains.

The prisoner screamed in obvious pain, although Jack could see nothing harming him. Once he was done screaming, he laughed. "Draco, I thought you got past the dark arts," he taunted the pale wizard. "At least that's what you said to the Wizengamot!"

"Shut up!" was the reply.

"Or what? You'll take off my other ear just like your dear Professor Snape?" the prisoner seemed more interested in making his torturer angry than escaping.

"_Crucio!_" Draco screamed again, this time his wand hand steady. The prisoner was lifted into the air by the force of the spell, screaming even louder than before. This time, the prisoner whimpered instead of laughed.

"That's enough, Draco," the wizard who seemed to be in charge said. "Now, tell us _everything_."

"I gave it to a boy," the prisoner said breathlessly. "My broom was going down, I was hit by _sectum sempra_ in the chest, I was sure I was gonna die. I crash landed in front of a muggle boy. I gave it to him and told him how to use it."

"What age was the boy?" asked the wizard.

"He said he was 'almost eleven.'"

"Did he tell you his name?"

"Jack."

Jack, who had averted his eyes, looked up at the sound of his name.

Another scream of pain as he was hit with _crucio_. "His full name?"

"H-he, he didn't s-say," the wizard answered. Looking closer, Jack noticed that the prisoner was missing his right ear.

"He's telling the truth," the wizard in control waved down Draco, who had raised his wand. He turned to the gathering of witches and wizards. "You heard him, we're looking for a muggle-born wizard in his first year of school named 'Jack'. He'll most likely be at Zeme's, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, or Beauxbatans. Find me all muggle-borns named so!"

The witches and wizards rushed out of the room and Jack heard them grab brooms off a rack. Only the head wizard was left in the tent with them.

"As for you, we'll see if we have any further use for you. For now, you stay here."

George's reply was silence. And for a horrible second Jack worried that he was dead. However, George dispelled these fears by spitting in his captors face.

"Why, you slime!" the wizard raised his wand and George smiled slightly.

"_Stupefy!_"Jack shouted, hoping that the wizards on deck had flown off. A jet of red light rushed from the end of his wand and hit the wizard in the face as he turned around. He slumped to the floor and didn't move.

"I'm so sorry to 'ear that you're feeling down," George joked before lifting his battered head to look for his saviors.  
>"Aqua, get rid of the disillusionment charms," Jack commanded. His friend obeyed.<p>

"Hey, Jack!" George explained. "How goes the fixing?"

Jack pulled out a handful of shattered glass from his robe pocket in response.

"Bloody hell," George lifted his face skyward. "Not that bloody piece of crap. I meant all this!" he attempted to gesture around him.

"_Relashio,_" Aqua said, and the handcuffs binding him fell away.

"You expected an eleven year old to stop a war?" Jack asked.

"Nah, you git," George said jokingly, ruffling Jack's hair. "If I remember correctly I asked a ten year old to stop a war. But then you went and bloody grew up a year. I figured adults listen to smart, cute kids. Nobody listens to smart, not-cute, adolescents."

"What do you mean by 'not cute'?" Jack asked, offended.

"I mean now I have to find another smart and cute kid. Nice going, mate."

"Uh," Gavin interrupted. "In case you've forgotten, we're on a warship we're not supposed to be on. And we've just released one of their prisoners."

"This isn't a warship," George scoffed. "This is a war-carpet! Much better, seeing as they can fly."

"Oh, whatever!" Aqua said much too loudly. "Let's just get out of here!"

"I don't know about you, mate. But I'm bloody comfortable right where I am," George said as he began to rummage through his imprisoner's robes. "Here it is!" he said happily as he pulled out a wand. "Best wand Ollivander ever made! How's that guy doing, by the way? Last I heard he was old."

"He's dead, now let's go," Aqua said.

"Fair enough," he said. "You wouldn't happen to have a broom or something of the sort? Or better yet! Some firewhiskey?"

"We've got brooms," Jack said.

"Perfect, I'll ride with you, mate," George said it as a fact.

Twenty seconds later they were off.

"Do you have somewhere to hide in mind?" Jack asked.

"I was thinking I'd go back to Hogwarts with you and hide in the mountains or the Forbidden Forest."

"I decided to go to Zeme's."

"Bloody hell," George breathed. "Only thing you've done right so far is stun that guy back there."

"What's wrong with Zeme's?" Jack said indignantly.

"It's not that something's wrong with Zeme's, just that Hogwarts is better. The only genius wizards that didn't learn at Hogwarts were the four founders and Grindelwald," George praised the school.

They landed in front of the Mekkler cabins, George having disillusioned himself. "You wouldn't happen to have a tent?" he asked.

"I've got a sleeping bag," Jack offered.

"It'll do," George said a little begrudgingly.

Jack retrieved the fluffy sleeping bag for George, who pointed his wand at it and began to murmur spells. Nearly twenty minutes passed and George finally finished enchanting it.

"Perfect!" George said, clambering inside. "Now, when I am fully inside the bag, I want you to levitate me to the middle of the lake, and drop me. I'll be fine, don't worry I've enchanted it perfectly. Tomorrow, I want you to bring me one meal's worth of food. I'll be able to replicate it enough to last for about a week, so I want you to deliver food once a week, understood?"

Jack nodded and George ducked his head under the warm sleeping bag. With Aqua's Gavin's help, as the bag with George in it was quite heavy, they were able to make the bag float out to the middle of the lake where they released the spell. Once the splash subsided there was no evidence it was even there. They walked back to their cabins just as the sun was rising, Jack attempting to explain how he knew George.

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	16. Chapter 16

The next day during breakfast and lunch Jack surreptitiously scraped food into his bag to give to George. How he would get to the bottom of the lake was another matter. All he could hope was that Aqua would know a spell, if not he could look something up in the library.

Immediately after classes ended he met up with Gavin and Aqua by the shore.

"Do you know a spell that will let you breathe underwater?" he asked them.

"Try _Aero Caputo_," she suggested. "It will keep a bubble of fresh air around your head."

The trio flew over to where they thought they remembered having left the sleeping bag. Jack performed the spell on his head, and was just about to jump when Aqua stopped him.

"What about your bag?" she said.

"What about it?"

"It's not water-proof, is it?" she said.

"Oh," Jack said stupidly. "No, no it's not."

"Give it here," Aqua commanded. She tapped it with her wand and said something so quietly it was as if she had a silencing charm cast upon her. "Now it is."

"Thanks," Jack said, fastening the bag full of food and school supplies to his back. "Here I go then." This time, nobody stopped him from jumping. Deciding to show off, he swan dove the twenty feet into the dark waters.

Even though he had his bubble of air around his head, the water (which, miraculously, had remained unfrozen throughout the entire winter) still seemed to punch his stomach and take his breath away.

_"Lumos,_" Jack hoped that the water muffling his voice wouldn't stop the spell from working. Luckily it didn't and the water all around him was illuminated. The fish darted away from the unexpected light as it fell upon them, rushing for even deeper parts of the lake. There didn't seem to be any seaweed, just a sandy bottom dotted with rocks.

As Jack swam down, he began to feel the pressure on his arms and legs rather than his ears, safe inside the air bubble. The air covered his entire face, except his eyes, as they were stinging with cold and able to see clearly.

He finally reached the bottom, still looking around for the sleeping bag. When the light fell on it, he was surprised to see that there didn't seem to be a body in it, like George had left. Nevertheless, Jack figured he could leave the food there for him.

Jack kicked over to it, opened the flap and swam in. His face fell onto the cushioned floor as it broke through into air. He dragged his feet through and looked back.

He seemed to have come through what looked like the surface of a pool, although sideways. Turning his head towards the inside, the once-small sleeping bag had been transformed into a large blanket fort.

"Oi!" George said. "You're dripping all over the carpet! _Tergeo!_"

Jack's robes were suddenly bone dry, but still cold.

"I hope that bag's waterproof," he said, motioning to Jack's school bag.

"It is," he replied. "Here's your food," Jack pulled out the plastic containers with George's food in them.

"Thanks mate," George replied, graciously accepting them. "I'm starving."

"Well I'll be off then," Jack said, already moving towards the exit.

"Jack?" George said, lifting his head from the food he was tearing into.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For dragging you into all this," he said. "And now the military knows your name and is gonna be after you to tell them where I am and possibly even do tests on you."

Becoming a lab rat hadn't even occurred to Jack yet. "It's all right," Jack said in earnest. "After all, you made me a wizard, it's the least I could do."

"No, it's really not alright," George surprised Jack with the sudden change of mood. "I dragged a random kid off the street and asked you to end a war. You could be killed, all because of me."

Jack felt a burning desire to prove to George that it was a good idea to make him a wizard and ask him to stop the war, but he had no idea how to go about doing that.

"I'm invincible," Jack said sternly. "I'm a muggle turned wizard, learned how to fly in about ten minutes, am at the top of almost all my classes and never even study, I was attacked by a chimaera and lived, but most of all I have something to prove to the most brilliant wizard in the world."

Before George could respond Jack jumped through the sleeping bag opening and was swimming towards the surface. When his head broke the water he was met with a boat and his friends arguing with none other than Sarah.

"Never mind what he's doing down there," Gavin was practically screaming. "What are doing out on the lake?"

"How does that matter? It seems mysterious to me that Jack has been underwater for more than half an hour!"

"It seems mysterious to me that a Zurak first-year is miles away from the rest of their house," Aqua retaliated. "Not to mention, pissing off a witch many times more talented than herself!"

Although Sarah paled a little at the threat, she held her ground. "Maybe I was just off for an afternoon fly, did that ever occur to you?"

"No it didn't," Jack said, surprising all of them. "Because you seem to be continuously poking your nose into my business, Sarah. Now why don't you bugger off before I stun you right now and leave you to drown?"

He said it so fiercely that the other three just sat on their brooms in shock for a few seconds. Jack raised his wand as threateningly as he could while treading water and Sarah flew away so fast that the water, ten feet below her, rippled as she passed.

"She might go looking for George," Aqua warned.

"I'll tell him tomorrow," Jack said. "Now could you get me out of this lake, it's freezing."

Gavin glided only half a foot above the water so Jack could grab the handle. With some difficulty he dragged Jack out of the water and flew towards the shore.

**Please feel free to comments, compliments, constructive criticism, and insults in the form of a review.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

The next day they were woken just after dawn, even though it was a Sunday so there were no classes and no incentives to get to breakfast on time. Hannah and Fred led the entire house across the lake as one. When a few people mounted brooms to fly across they were told it wasn't allowed anymore.

They went straight past the rebuilt dining hall and down the path that Jack knew led to the Fire.

The headmaster stood before the burning flames as they sat down on the logs, as if it was already second year and the new students were being sorted. The other three houses were sitting down as well, and from the looks on their faces they were just as confused as Jack.

"I have an announcement to make," the headmaster said, his voice strangely amplified. "This morning I was approached by the European military."

Whispering broke out but was muffled by a powerful silencing charm.

"They have made me aware of the inadequate amount of control in your lives, and the danger it poses to yourself, the school, and your education."

Jack was sure he could hear a little resentment in the headmaster's voice.

"As such there will be a number of new rules and changes in your schedule. The first and I'm sure the one you'll enjoy the most is classes will now take place seven days a week. You will be led to and from these classes by a teacher, prefect, or military member. There will be no magic performed outside of class, unless given direct permission from a staff or military member. The only times you will be allowed out of your cabins will be to go to class. You will eat meals with your classmates. You will only be using transports permitted by the school, which does not include broomsticks, flying carpets, or anything else you may have brought from home. When you return to your cabins today a staff member will come around to collect such items.

"There will be no more Quadpot or Quidditch games. The annual broom race has also been called off. Instead of detentions, the only punishment is the Cruciatus Curse. Now I ask prefects to return their houses to their cabins. Stay there until further instructions."

Hannah and Fred reluctantly began sheparding the Mekkler students back to the boats. As they stepped onto the path they were joined by military wizards and witches, their wands at the ready. Jack caught a third year glaring at one of them, he looked away quickly when the witch in question pointed her wand at him threateningly.

The silence was unerring, even when they were safely in their cabins nobody said a word. Everybody was busy reflecting on this strange turn of events in the privacy of their own heads. To Jack it meant that he would be taken away and tortured any minute now.

Ten minutes later, Grell knocked on the door and listed off all the students that he knew had brooms or flying carpets and advised anybody not on it to comply. Jack and Gavin's names were among those on the first list.

He briefly considered denying that he had a broom, but he decided it wouldn't be much use to him shut up in the cabin all day anyways. When he placed it tenderly in the bag that Grell was holding, he noticed that the teacher was frowning deeply, as if he was being forced to do this.

Jack read for almost an hour when a military guard came knocking at the door. They demanded that the entire cabin come with them. Instead of riding across the lake on boats, they were loaded onto a large flying carpet. One of the witches took a place near the front, Jack assumed she was the pilot, while the others mounted brooms.

They took flight and raced over the trees in a straight line. When they came to a stop Jack couldn't see anything around them besides the trees down below.

"_Revelio_," a wizard that Jack recognized as Draco said, pointing his wand directly ahead.

A shimmering blue veil appeared, it obscured the trees and sky ahead, it reminded Jack of a force field in a sci-fi movie. Draco took a stone out of his pocket and tossed it towards the barrier. As soon as it touched, it disintegrated without a sound.

"This is the school boundary," Draco sneered. "It is impossible to get past this. One thing the headmaster forgot to mention, any messages sent will sadly kill the owl carrying it. Any owls we find being sent among students in the school will not be killed, but will be taken to serve the European army. Don't worry about your parents, they have been contacted and told of the change in circumstance. Finally, just in case you first-years are very advanced, apparation is not possible within this boundary."

The flying carpet was turned around and in five minutes they were back in the cabin. All Jack could think of was how to get George out, or at least send a message to him. He debated trying to send Aqua a message with a paper bird but decided he would wait and see if he got any contact with her, she might have some ideas.

He didn't have a chance to talk to her on Monday morning, when classes resumed, although he did see her when they boarded the boats. The classes seemed disturbingly normal under the rule of an army. Although they were just as boring as ever.

They returned to the cabin for lunch

"We ought to message Aqua," Gavin told Jack. "You know, with that special paper you have."

"I know, but what if it gets intercepted?" Jack worried.

"Well if we try to talk to her on the boats they could overhear us and then they would know were George is anyways, this way's safer."

Jack begrudgingly agreed, but only wrote one thing on the paper:

What do you Think?

-Gavin and Jack

They propped open a window an inch and released their messenger. It flew away with inspiring grace. All they could hope was that if somebody other than Aqua spotted it they would mistake it for a normal bird.

A few minutes passed and the bird came back

We need to get a message to George. Wait until night though.

-Aqua

How are we supposed to do that without getting caught?

-Gavin and Jack

Use these birds, they might be able to fly underwater if you cast an Impervius Charm on them. Also, we have to take the school back, I'm sure none of the teachers agreed to this. We just have to get them and the other students to fight back. Don't send anymore messages during the day.

-Aqua.

Jack had never used an Impervius Charm before, but it was at the end of his spell-book so he figured it couldn't be too hard. He practically slept through the rest of the classes and couldn't concentrate on his homework in the evening. When the sun finally fell he leapt over to Gavin's bed to collaborate on the letter.

The European Army has taken over the school. We're not even allowed out of our cabins without an adult watching us anymore. They've blocked the outside world with a deadly force field and say that apparation is impossible inside the school. We're trying to work out a way to get food to you, but we don't have any ideas yet. Aqua wants to fight them, and I don't totally disagree with her. But they say that anybody who doesn't follow the rules will be tortured with the Cruciatus Curse

-Gavin and Jack

They pushed the window open as silently as they could and pushed the paper phoenix into the night.

Chapter 18:

Gavin and Jack received a message the following night.

Don't fight. At least not yet. The Cruciatus Curse is not something you want to experience at such a young age, or any other age for that matter. Normally I would tell you to do pranks that raise hope for the other students, but seeing as they're threatening you with torture I would say only do it if you've gotten an invisibility cloak. Don't worry about getting me food, I can live off of fish for awhile. I'll work on a way of getting a message to the outside, but be warned that no matter what happens there will be fighting inside the school grounds.

-George Weasely

Although they didn't much like the idea of just sitting around and doing nothing, they agreed to do as George said, at least for now.

Almost a week later Jack was shocked to realize that the new order had become so routine that he didn't even feel hatred towards the guards whenever he saw them. In the cabin conversation took place as it always had. Homework was copied, wizard's chess was played, and complaints became increasingly rare as they accepted what the school had become.

"Screw it," a boy name Kevin said one day, throwing down the cards he had been playing with.

The entire cabin looked up at him in surprise. Out of all the people to be outspoken it was the boy who had been shy throughout the whole year.

"Screw their rules!" he continued, a bit red in the face. "I'm going to go skip rocks on the lake, set off a few of the fireworks I got for Christmas, and I'm gonna use every fricking spell I can think of!"

It seemed he was serious because he walked over to the door.

"You can't go out," his best friend, and a muggle-born, Greg said, blocking the door. "You'll get tortured."

Kevin merely shoved his friend out of the way and stormed through the door. The first years sat in silence for a few moments and then crowded at the windows to watch. He reached into his pockets and took something out, it was impossible to tell what it was in the darkness.

Jack watched, transfixed as he arranged whatever it was on the ground. Kevin pointed his wand near his feet and a small flame was lit. Jack realized he had lit the fuse of a firework. When the fire split into four separate flames he thought it must have been four of them.

All four fuses reached their destinations at the same time and turned into bright multicolored sparks. The fireworks rocketed into the sky and exploded. They were shaped like a dragon, a pegasus, a griffin, and the last one burst into a shower of moving blue specks.

The first three moved through the air, in not so much sparks but a constant explosion. A few of the blue specks came towards the window and he saw that they were actually little elfish creatures, but seemed solid. One of them spotted the crowd and sped towards the window they were all watching through.

When it made contact the glass shattered, causing the first years closest to the window throw their hands over their faces and the rest ran backwards.

"Cornish Pixies!" somebody shouted in the chaos. By now more of them had joined the first and were flitting around the cabin, picking up any hard objects lying around and whacking the students with them.

"_Immobulus!_" Grell shouted as he burst into the room.

It seemed as if the air had become as thick as mud to Jack. Looking around he saw people running in slow motion and pixies flying in the same way. He tried to move his legs and was met with such resistance that he barely moved at all. Grell ran around at full speed, grabbing the pixies and shoving them in a cage he had conjured out of the air. When they were all safely inside he waved his wand and the spell was released.

Jack, along with most of the students, had been in midstride and collapsed onto the floor.

It was then that an angry looking army wizard dragged Kevin back into the cabin, holding the boys wand far out of his reach.

"Let this all be a lesson to you," he snarled. "This is what happens when you break the rules!" he threw Kevin roughly in front of him and in the middle of the circle of students that had formed.

"I hardly think that's necessary," Grell said calmly.

"It doesn't matter what you think anymore," the wizard sneered. "This school is in control of the army now. Look me in the eye, boy!"

Kevin obliged, terror clearly displayed on his face, but said nothing.

"_Crucio!_"

Kevin was thrown into the air as he screamed in pain.

"Still think it's a good idea to disobey us?" the tormentor asked.

"Y-y-yes," Kevin stuttered.

"_Crucio!_" the wizard repeated.

Kevin's scream was even louder than before. He fell face-down onto the wooden floor.

"How about now?"

The only reply Kevin seemed able to make was a pathetic sounding whimper.

"Good," he stalked off through the open door.

Grell began to follow, but turned back into the doorway and mouthed, "I'm sorry," to Kevin, who had managed to get his face off the floor. His face was streaked with tears.

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	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

A month passed and Kevin barely spoke a word, although Jack noticed him glaring at the guards when their backs were turned. Ever since they had had tortured Kevin, all Jack could think of was how to free the school. The idea came in the middle of transfiguration class.

Jack pulled Gavin back when they were filing out the door at the end. The guard raised an eyebrow at them and his wand twitched slightly in his hand.

"We need to talk to Professor Grell," Jack said.

"I don't care, get over here," the wizard ordered.

"It's alright, sir," Grell assured him. "I've been meaning to talk to these two about their slipping grades for quite some time now. I'll show them to their next class."

The wizard looked suspicious but turned around and led the other students away.

"What's wrong with our grades?" Gavin asked once they were out of ear-shot.

"Nothing," Grell clarified. "In fact you two are top of the class. I could just tell that you wanted to talk to me."

"Well yeah," Jack said, the details of his plan still forming in his head. "I have a plan to free the school."

The teacher's eyes immediately lit up. With a flick of his wand he shut the blinds and locked the door. "Well spit it out!" he said excitedly.

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you," Jack said. "The more people that know it the higher chance that it'll get found out."

"I understand," Grell said, obviously disappointed. "But I take it you need my help with some aspect of the plan?"

"Yes," Jack said. "I need you to get me to whoever teaches Care of Magical Creatures."

"Easy enough," Grell said. "Our excuse will be that your parents have just adopted Gavin, yes I know that, and have also just bought a Hippogriff. You two will need to be trained on how to handle the creature. With a bit of luck, nobody will ask anyways. Just follow me and try to look at ease."

"Alright," Jack and Gavin said in unison.

Grell led the way out the door and down a path unfamiliar to Jack. It wound and twisted around hills and bridged over quite a few rivers. They went further into the forest than Jack had ever been. Eventually they came to a small house atop a cliff unfamiliar to Jack.

A tall old witch answered the door when Grell knocked.

"These two have a plan to take back the school, and they need your help" Grell whispered.

Jack and Gavin were ushered inside as Grell walked confidently back down the path.

"What do you need, boys?" she asked cheerfully. "I'm Professor Graphorn by the way."

"I'm Jack and this is Gavin," Jack finished the introductions. "We need every flying animal that you can ride in front of the Mekkler cabins in two nights at midnight. And we need a means of making them follow others as well as being ridden."

Professor Graphorn looked taken aback. "There are enough flying steeds in these forests for the entire school," she warned.

"Exactly," Jack said.

"In that case, it can be done," she smiled. "I'll tutor you on the different kinds and how to get them to let you ride them. You'll have to get a pass to skip your classes for the next two days though. Good thing I'm a teacher and have the authority to do that!"

"One more thing," Jack said, a bit more grimly. "I need to know where the chimaera sleeps."

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	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

That night, he sent a paper messaging bird to George explaining the plan. He also sent messages to each of the other Mekkler cabins telling them to meet in the first year boys cabin if they wanted to free the school. The seventh years that knew disillusionment charms were to help everybody get there.

Every single student showed up, the cabin was so packed that there were people packed 6 to a bunk, every bunk, and there was no room to move around on the floor. Even George ventured up from the depths of the lake join the meeting. Over the next hour Jack explained the plan, and then told them how to mount all the different steeds.

Everybody snuck back to their cabins, the dread that had filled them for the past month and a half was gone, replaced by hope and excitement.

Classes the next day seemed hopelessly boring and Jack saw more than one classmate fidgeting in anticipation. Many professors had to repeat their questions to students who had been daydreaming about that night. Finally classes ended and they were led back to their cabins for they hoped would be the last time.

Night fell all too slowly and every student was eagerly watching the horizon. Finally the sun passed below the forest and they were plunged into darkness. Everybody started at the slightest noise, hoping that it might be the signal they were awaiting.

Finally they heard the whoosh of gigantic wings.

"What the—" was the favored saying among the guards that night as they saw hundreds of flying creatures.

"Get outta here!" one of them finally shouted.

The hippogriff he said this to was immediately angered. It screeched like an eagle had Jack heard the guard shout in either terror or pain, hopefully the latter. As the rest of the guards scrambled to protect themselves from the flurry of wings, hooves, talons, and beaks the students that had been placed in the third and fourth skill level ran out to stun the guards.

When the noise finally died down Jack, Gavin, and the rest of the cabin hurried out the door. Those assigned to hippogriffs did the customary bow while those assigned to pegasi hurried to fit them with bridles and then leapt on their backs. He saw some leaping onto something he couldn't see, and knew they were riding Thestrals

Jack made for the breed of pegasus known as a Granian, the fastest steed in the world. It could even outstrip a dragon, or a _Nimbus 3000_. It was small, aerodynamic, and jet-black. He fitted it with a bridle a seventh year conjured before leaping onto its back, right below the wings.

Not waiting for the other groups to be off, he rode the Granian straight towards the lake. Right before hitting the water it leapt into the air as Jack nudged its wings upwards. He soared high above the waters, towards where the chimaera rested. The exhilaration at flying at such speeds and with such grace wiped all thoughts of turning back from his mind. His biggest worry was that he was wrong about how much a chimaera could withstand.

He came upon the trees at the far shore and had the Granian fold in its wonderful wings. Now he galloped along the forest trail, almost as fast as they had flown, the awesome pegasus weaving between the trees with ease. Up ahead he could see the Chimaera, the dangerous beast the school's only hope.

As he rushed past he cast a stunning spell to wake it up, and another one five seconds later to make it chase him. Even the monster was no match for his steed's speed. Jack had to slow down to allow it to keep pace.

"_Revelio!_" Jack shouted, pointing his wand straight ahead. He hoped the adrenaline running through his veins would be enough to make the spell work without him ever casting it before.

The spell miraculously shot straight through the trees and hit the shimmering barrier far ahead. It was only visible through the rare gaps in the thick undergrowth. Jack heard the chimaera tearing after them, smashing straight through the tree he wove around. It belched fire and the Granian sped up to avoid it.

The deadly force field drew ever nearer, and Jack almost turned back out of fear that he had misjudged the pegasus' ability or the chimaera's toughness or miscalculated the physics involved. But he knew that if he went back it would just mean everybody who had been in on the plan would be tortured, just as Kevin had a month ago.

It was one hundred yards away, fifty. One hundred feet. Fifty feet. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty. Ten.

Jack commanded the wonderful horse to unfurl its wings. The gap in the trees before the force field was enough that it could run straight. Although it never flapped, the lift created by its speed and outstretched wings forced it to fly almost vertically into the air. The Granian whinnied in pain as its hoof scratched the force field.

He pulled up on the pegasus' wings so he was flying upside down away from the force field. Turning back to face the charging chimaera, he saw it trying to stop. Its momentum was too much, for it crashed into the shield and howled and flame flew from its mouth. The great monster, however, kept going, through the shield that would have killed Jack. Its hide was so tough that all it did was burn.

The blue, transparent wall and the domed ceiling that was part of it shattered like glass, but silently. The pieces floated through the air and slowly disappeared. Pride filled Jack as he realized that his plan had actually worked. But it vanished as he remembered that it wasn't over yet.

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	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Jack jammed his feet into the Granian's sides to fly off as fast as it could carry him. Down below the chimaera was whimpering as it licked its wounds. The entire European military would be being alerted that the students were fighting back by now. They needed reinforcements, and therefore so would the students.

Back at the school Gavin was leading a group of fliers to the Eddif cabins to get them to join the fight. Behind him was a group of more than a hundred pegasi and hippogriffs. Aqua was doing the same to Effural. But only a few seventh and sixth years were going to the Zurak cabins, the only thing to be done there was to stun the guards.

A few messengers had been sent to the teachers saying that they needed help to secure the school. Most responded immediately.

Jack was having a hard time following the map Hannah had given him, but he was more or less on course. They estimated that it would take him half an hour to reach where he was going. The city of Chicago glittered in the night as Jack sped towards the top floors of the tallest building in the city.

"_Expulso!_" he cried, aiming his wand at the top window of the Sears Tower. The glass blew out and Jack saw the seemingly empty floor.

With great care he flew the Granian through the broken window, and inside the building. At once the view of an empty and dark floor transformed into a large marble-floored and elaborately decorated government type building. Witches and wizards all around were staring at the broken window and the eleven year old boy who had just burst through it on a pegasus.

"I need to see the minister!" Jack bellowed.

"I'm right here," a kind looking witch in deep purple robes said.

"Zeme's has been taken over by the European army," he explained quickly. "The students and teachers have taken it back but we're sure they're sending reinforcements. You need to send the American army to defend them!"

"This is the first I've heard of it," the minister said calmly.

"That's because they blocked all communications!" Jack exclaimed.

"I'm sure there's just a misunderstanding," she said. "Why don't we get you cleaned up by a healer –" Jack was covered in cuts from tree branches and jagged glass "— and we'll get you back to school."

"I'm telling you the truth!" Jack screamed. "They even used the Cruciatus Curse on Kevin when he tried to rebel a month ago!"

"My word you have a vivid imagination."

"Give me a truth potion or something if you don't believe me!" Jack said in exasperation.

The minister snapped her fingers and a wizard ran up and poured a horribly tasting liquid down Jack's throat.

"Now, who is in control of Zeme's?" the minister asked, still calm.

"The students, but only an hour ago it was in control of the European army!" Jack said, feeling slightly victorious. "Now get your own fricking army down there and help!"

"Do as he says, people!" the minister called. "Move it move it move it! Aurors get over there! Public communications alert every witch and wizard within standard apparating distance! Education department alert parents and guardians! Go!"

Suddenly the floor was a flurry of activity.

"And you can come with me," said a woman who looked like a nurse. "We'll get all those nasty cuts and bruises fixed in no time."

"No way!" Jack said. "I'm going back to the school to help!"

He turned on his pegasus and flew back out the hole in the glass before the nurse could object.

The Granian's prestigious speed seemed to be wearing off as it got tired. It took Jack fifty minutes to return to the school. He landed in the large clearing by the Fire, it seemed to be burning hotter and brighter than ever.

"_Sectum sempra!_" a large gash appeared in the Granian's side as Sarah stepped out of the shadows. "You and your stupid house are going to get us all killed!" she snarled.

"_Stupefy!_" Jack tried to stun her in response. She blocked the spell easily.

"So now I'm going to kill all of you!" she smiled wide. "_Decendio!_"

A large tree fell down onto the large sorting fire. The flame immediately began to spread down the trunk.

"There's nothing known to magic-kind that can put out that fire, Skye!" she laughed, pulled out a broomstick from her bag and flew off.

Jack turned his attentions to his pegasus. It was laying down, bleeding heavily. Not knowing any healing spells, Jack patted it on its neck, and ran off to find out how he could help.

It wasn't long before he ran into Hannah, who was running towards Mekkler dining hall.

"What's happened since I left?" he asked her, keeping pace.

"We secured the school and reinforcements from the ministry showed up a few minutes ago. They're putting up a line of defense right now. It seems we're not going to be able to avoid a battle."

"Where are Gavin and Aqua?"

"In the dining hall with everyone else."

When they reached the dining hall Jack almost ran into about a dozen pegasi. The building was completely surrounded by the flying steeds. Jack ran in the door before he upset them. Inside was even more surprising than outside. It was packed with what jack judged to be a thousand witches and wizards.

The dining hall must have finally reached the limit of its size changing power, because there was barely enough room to breathe. The minister stood on a table in the center of the room.

"Students below seventeen will be evacuated with side-along apparation with healers. Students seventeen or above may choose to stay and fight, although they are warned that it would be wiser to leave."

Jack didn't hear the rest of what she was saying because he had spotted Gavin and Aqua and was forcing his way through the crowd towards them.

"Aqua, do you know how to put out the fire?" he asked.

"Did you try water?" she joked.

"This is the Sorting Fire," Jack said.

She whistled. "That's gonna be a bit harder. You see, the wizards who made it were part of the original Native American tribe that founded the school. When the settlers invaded and killed all the elders the secrets to their magic was lost. That fire hasn't gone out for over seven hundred years, and for the past four hundred nobody's known how."

"So it would be bad if, say, the forest caught on fire with that as the source?"

"Very," confirmed Aqua. "But there's nothing flammable around that fire for fifty feet."

"But the trees are more than fifty feet tall," Jack said.

"Yes, but those trees are magical so they can't be struck down with lightning, or be chopped down with an axe."

"Could they be taken down with magic?"

"Yeah I suppose they could," Aqua answered. "What's with all the questions, anyways?"

"Well…. You see…" Jack started. "Sarah kind of caught one of the trees on fire and by now it will have spread to the forest."

"What?" she asked, all the color draining from her face. "Well forget the battle! We need to contain that fire!"

She tried to push her way to the front, but the taller and older students shoved her backwards, sending her stumbling into Jack.

"Right!" she said, seemingly getting happy even though they were facing the schools destruction _and _invasion. "We'll just find an auror. They'll know what to do!"

Jack didn't know what an auror was but he followed her out and she jumped on a thestral, invisible to Jack.

"Get up!" she yelled at him. "We don't have much time!"

"I can't see it!" he objected.

"So?" she countered. "You can see me, just jump like you did to get on the Granian! It's about the same height."

Realizing that there was no time to argue he jumped up struggled to swing his leg over the invisible horse.

"Hold on tight," Aqua said. "No I mean, you need to hold onto something," she said when Jack didn't move.

Feeling absurdly embarrassed he placed his hands on either side of her waist. Suddenly they were flying. Jack looked down and was terrified to see the ground zooming away and nothing supporting him.

"Just don't fall!" Aqua screamed above the wind.

From their vantage point they could clearly see the flames shooting high into the night sky.

"Don't forget about me!" Gavin said from a hippogriff to their right. "I want to have an adventure too!"

They flew at the edge of the school's boundaries, looking down for an auror. Eventually they spotted a wizard with purple hair, his wand ready, and his eyes turned skyward.

"Hey!" Aqua called. "The Sorting Fire is burning the school! We need your help!"

Gavin landed and allowed the wizard to climb on behind him. They set off towards the fire which had gotten even bigger in the short time they hadn't seen it.

"Wotcher," the auror breathed in a British accent and Jack worried he was part of the European army. "Don't worry, I'm an immigrant not an invader," the wizard seemed to be reading Jack's mind. "My name is Ted Tonks, by the way."

"We're never going to put that out, the best we'll be able to do is stop the rest of Minnesota burning with the school. We'll set up a fire barrier."

While Ted was talking Jack saw it for the second time in his life. A mammoth flying carpet covered with tents. Only this time the army was not sleeping in the tents, but standing on the fluttering carpet. He spun his head around and his worst fears were confirmed, there were four more war-carpets gliding towards the flaming forest.


End file.
